Just as someone has the freedom to post up dangerous backyard hackery, I have the freedom to call out things that I know pose a threat to lesser experienced and lesser skilled climbers. As someone who has spent over 40 yrs earning a living with a saw in my hand I feel it is my responsibility/duty to speak up when I see dangerous cutting techniques that are being sold as a viable option. You can label me "overzealous" if thats what blows your skirt, but that's how I fucking roll buddy.. As such I will continue to try an educate young climbers when I see something that I know is dangerous. Part of being underskillled/underschooled is not having the experience or knowledge base to fully see or understand the inherent dangers in a given technique/method. That leaves it to those of us who KNOW better to speak up and educate them when needed..Surely you are not asking the uneducated to be responsible for knowing what they don't know?
And yes, the responsibility that we have for our co-workers on the jobsite does extend to the greater online arb community....If someone does something as fucking stupid as post a video on an arb forum in which they advocate for the use of the "intentional barberchair" then those of us who have earned the right to KNOW better have a duty and responsibility to speak up. Those of us who have actually seen the devastating effects that a slice cut can have on a climber have a duty to speak up when someone posts up a video of this inherently dangerous technique..
That's how its done son... Those who KNOW better try to educate those who don't, all in the hopes that they won't go do something stupid and get themselves hurt in the process. Its a process that is as old as time.
Of course I don't expect the uneducated to be responsible for knowing what they don't know. That's just stupid. But I do expect them to implement techniques at a pace congruent with their experience and understanding. That's what I did. Thanks to the tree veterans that post videos on youtube, I was able to significantly accelerate my knowledge and growth as a climber. As someone who didn't have access to much local tutelage, I can honestly say, without youtube and the internet I would not be nearly as skilled as I am today. I am grateful as hell for that. And I respect that you try (and presumably succeed) to educate climbers and warn of them of the dangers of this profession. I think that there is tremendous value in that and would never have a problem with it. My only problem is with the notion that someone who posts a video could be held morally liable for an accident that occurs 500 miles away (or wherever) by a guy who watched a couple clips and got it in his head that he was ready to try something that in fact he was not.
I remember when I first saw a video of someone negative rigging a top out of a tree and I was fascinated. I had never seen anything like it. I grew up in a logging family, and the only tree work done aloft that I had witnessed was rudimentary at best. Although I studied the shit out of the technique of negative rigging (videos, blogs, etc.), it still took me a while to build up the courage to try it. When I finally did, I didn't bust out a big fat top; I started small, and then worked my way up. If I had watched an August Hunicke video, and had had the audacity to go big or home, throw caution into the wind, and do something that was way over my head, then that would simply have been negligent. Negligent on my part, not August's.
We can continue to go round and round on this but I'd rather not so this will be my last post. At the core of this argument (the original argument I made) there is a dichotomy of two schools of thought that transcend this particular discussion. There are those who believe that a man (or woman) is responsible for his/her own actions, and there are those who believe you can pass the buck.
There is nothing wrong with you feeling a responsibility towards educating people about the inherent problems you see with Murphy's video, but saying that he should "do the right thing and take it down," to me, is just ridiculous.
