Petzl is a fantastic brand with an exemplary dedication to product safety. I recommend Petzl products to anyone getting into climbing. Our most popular gear review is a comparison of the Petzl GriGri and GriGri+ and my favorite gear review is the Petzl Connect Adjust. Let it be known that theDIHEDRAL supports and loves Petzl products.
The Petzl Website has some of the best tutorials, instructional videos, and safety tips available. With easy to follow steps, I have to admit I am a regular visitor to their how-to page. Climbers are the beneficiaries of better, safer, and smarter climbing because Petzl takes the time to help, and for that I am and will forever be grateful.
With that being stated, the images on the webpage seem to be begging for a satirical twist to their intended purpose1. (Sorry Petzl, you kind of made me do it.)
This image is used to display belay technique as means to promote and embrace the “Ghost in the Machine”. However, Cartesian Dualism is not an adequate solution to the mind/body problem. Do better Petzl, we no longer live in the 17th century.
She knew Arthur misunderstood her safety check when he answered: “Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.”
When you want to be a climber but you’re meant to be a gardener. #GreenThumb #GardeningIsMyPassion
Those socks with those shoes? Come on Dale! Also there are no climbing holds, and Dale’s rope doesn’t seem to be properly flaked, and his rope isn’t connected to a climber, it just stops in the air? But mostly it’s his socks.
You guessed it, Tom believes that information from entertainment news outlets and social media sites constitutes reliable information. In addition he believes that viewing these sources is equivalent to research. Because of Tom’s inability to discriminate between good and bad sources, and his psychological desire to quell uncertainty when possible, he is quick to accept misinformation, falsehoods, and conspiracy theories. As Tom’s uncertainties are resolved (based on unfounded and false information) so too are his insecurities of being left behind in a changing world. Others like Tom share these false ideas and a community of folks with an overinflated sense of value are united in misinformation. The misinformation grounds Tom and his likeminded community to the point that any attempt to question the falsehoods guiding the group are considered an attack on the personal character of Tom and the entire group with which he identifies. Also his left hand is holding the rope very strangely in the third picture.
This one is kind of tough to see, but if you look closely you’ll notice that the belayer is balancing a large green right-angle triangle on their eyeball. This is generally not advised when belaying nor when climbing.
- To iterate, the original intention of the images is for safety and in no sense a laughing or joking matter. Safety is very serious, and not following intended protocol could lead to severe injury or death.
thedihedral.com 
And here I was thinking the coffee cup is way too small and empty! But then I’m not a climber. But I do love your double social messaging.
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Why would anyone not fill the coffee back up? Tragic!
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When I will get done laughing (if ever) I’ll write again to reinforce the safety message.
In the meantime…oh, those socks!
Paz
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Haha…Pazlo, thank you!
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What Tom believes is in the nature of the times.
Being a part of a social group is today far more important than being accurate or objective. Social cooperation has been essential since we were a proto-human species. Today, most of us don’t have to worry about where the next meal is coming from or how to avoid being eaten ourselves but the social imperative remains. We are enmeshed in vast social, political, and economic structures over which 99.99% of individuals have no control. There’s no other way to support 7 billion people in this shrinking world.
Tribes of hunter-gatherers had to specialize the roles of individuals. The people who were good at running and fighting became the hunters. Those with better fine dexterity became specialists in gathering and processing. Those with more knowledge or experience became the specialized thinkers. (Clumsy, dull, and weak people become the omegas while strong but stupid people are extremely useful to those with the brains.) That thinking “specialization” remains even though individual thought is more important *over the long* term today than ever before.
But we aren’t evolved to be concerned about the long term. We evolved to worry about the next meal or the next passing pride of lions.
I think too many of us look for other people to do all our thinking for us because, for most of us, deep thinking is difficult and/or boring. There’s no immediate survival payoff. We defer that to the specialist. Once you’ve picked a guru or ideology to think for you, there’s a whole social structure involved them so you start instinctively adapting your own attitudes to fit the group better. The internet makes this so easy, Our echo chambers become so insular they take on cult-like properties.
In the distant past, “truth” had immense survival value. It no longer does, so we live in a post-truth era. I really do imagine we’ll evolve into some kind of dystopic twilight future this way. This isn’t the world we are optimized to survive in.
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Fred this is really very good. I especially love how an innocent picture of Tom flaking some rope, lead to this discussion. I hope Petzl appreciates just how impactful their diagram is. I think you should apply to write their caption descriptions, because this is great!
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As you know I’m not a climber, but I’ll comment on each image giving it my best shot: 1) Do people use a mouse on their laptops these days? 2) Did the arrow bounce off of the shadow? 3) Would it be better if the big fella goes up first and social distance? 4) Right handed? 5) Left his washing on the floor? 6) He’s forgotten the dog? 7) That’s not how you use set square.
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Haha…my favorite is #6 He’s forgotten the dog. Terrific answers, we may have to levy a complaint to Petzl for such egregious mistakes!
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Thank you for the laugh! I really needed it. Some of these look like the guy is holding a leash or like me once when I took my dog, Molly, up to the mountains and realized I had forgotten her leash. I stopped at a general store and bought the next best thing they had: clothesline. Yeah, it was long, but…
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Haha…Martha I had something similar happen. I had to use the shoulder strap from a duffle once for Pepper’s leash. It did the trick.
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And here I thought it was that the two climbers were looking at each other’s crotches rather than thinking about climbing safety. Being roped so closely together I wondered what they each told their partner at home about their climbing partner.
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Oooh I like that they have a back story…it’s getting interesting!
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I think Tom has been added by mistake – I recognise this from a magic trick: Take the two ends of a rope and hold them tightly in one hand. Holding both sections wide apart, snap the two lengths together three times while uttering the magic words ‘Iron my shirt!’ and the two ends will join together.
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Haha…that is perfect! Clearly he is doing that magic trick! Great eye!
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Beautiful write-up
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Anand Bose…thank you so much!
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