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the psychology behind "raja & rehman comparison" threads

Topic started by velramanan (@ 202.88.154.169) on Mon Oct 22 06:25:41 EDT 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

I am sick of finding seemingly endless comparisons between raja & rehman. For once, let us stop talking about comparing raja & rehman. Instead i would like to discuss the real psychology behind "what prompts people to resort to such comparisons. What sort of personalities relish such fights. What might be the internal motives of such comparisons? Are there any sincere people involved in such threads or is it mere cheap ego trips?". This has always been an intriguing riddle to me. Help please....(for heaven's sake please do not start another sickening fight here too.) :-)

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: WhyNot (@ 203.24.100.132) on: Wed Oct 24 07:26:36 EDT 2001
  
  Here's another thought. Something Mani said about 'brand'. Maybe this whole thing is like a brand loyalty indeed. When Nike/Reebok advertise, it's not just an appeal to buy the product, but to 'buy into the product'. Someone doesn't just buy Nike for the quality, they also buy it for the hype tat surrounds the product. Something else about the product which captures their imagination.
  So maybe when people listen to IR, over time it's not just music, but IR becomes a hero in their mind. And same for ARR. So when the loyalty is fierce and strong, obviously any suggestions tat someone else is better provokes a strong emotional response. Let's face it. If all someone wants is just to listen to IR/ARR music, why would one spend so much time reading about IR/ARR, start internet sites for them, keep their posters and even spend so much time and energy defending them to some other totally unknown people on the internet.
  Though it's not the same, such comparisons are analogous to Nike vs Reebok, Pepsi vs. Coke, Pizza Hut vs. Milanos, Netscape vs. Explorer etc. Most times u'll notice a certain loyalty in constant users to a certain brand. This may or may not be substantiated by product quality.
  Another similarity is adolescent crushes. When some guy sees a girl he barely knows or vice-versa, they develop a full blown crush despite not knowing any of the qualities or attributes of the person. The psychology is you simply fill in the missing blanks with desirable attributes which simply stem out of your own imagination. Part of the reason behind so many disappointments in love, though here I am digressing. The truth may be tat the person may be a monster. But too late, your mind has already developed a picture perfect god and nothing anyone says is going to deter you. Most of ARR fans think he's a soft pious friendly humble etc etc person despite not having met him too often. And ARR fans may also think IR is an arrogant egotistic person. All based on news reports, interview responses etc. I'm not too sure wat IR fans think of him.
  So maybe we are all under varying degrees of delusion about the people we are fans to. Mostly delusion created by our own minds. Afterall 'fan' does come from fanatic, doesn't it.
  So the point I'm making is...wat was it?
  Something along the lines tat fans don't just defend IR/ARR simply for their music though that may look like the apparent logic. They are actually being to loyal to someone they think they know personally. Because their mind thinks they know who the real IR/ARR is. Same reason why people cry when someone famous dies.
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Wed Oct 24 09:53:12 EDT 2001
  
  What psychology is behind analysing others psychology?..Go ahead..Good thread to write about what you feel is right! Listen to The Game's ending song "This pill makes you Big"...Write your thoughts...
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 192.138.149.4) on: Wed Oct 24 11:25:12 EDT 2001
  
  Mani, vELramanan and whynot good points. I think the younger generation looks at IR non-favorably. I think he understands this and he is shying away from commercial ventures and concentrating on BGM and other interesting ventures.
  
  
• From: hihi:-) (@ 128.111.113.76) on: Wed Oct 24 14:57:36 EDT 2001
  
  whynot? can you write a little bit about milano's? where is this chain(?) based?
  
  
• From: Guru (@ 172.137.222.75) on: Wed Oct 24 20:20:14 EDT 2001
  
  Great points by various people. In short "whynot" is refering to "bias" or "favoritism" because of getting accustomed to something. Good point and well taken. I have been a keen observer of TFM forums; specially those IR vs ARR threads and have occasionally given my input based on facts. However, I still feel there is something that does not make ARR vs IR completely on a level playing field. We have seen so much of IR and a good amount of ARR's creativity and success. Given the trend that IR is shying himself (if that's going to continue and assuming that he would retire in another few years) and ARR is going to do new projects, It could take probably another 10 years to set them on an exact level playing field and compare their acheivements. But the success rate of ARR is so high. I do not think till now any other MD in south india has tasted such an overall acceptance in the entire country. Forget ARR's plagiarism now and then and the negative aspects of his music (even IR has copied!). Those would be considered small compared to his huge success.
  So, what we have now left is IR vs ARR. A prolific great composer-IR, who has shown that music can even transcend imagination and people who have grown up along with his music (including myself) continue to side for IR considering the wonders he has done in the field. On the other hand, we have people who see ARR as a "wave phenomenon" who's incredible rate of sucess and freshness in music has never been seen before. This idea seems to dominate their "favoritism" and hence they side ARR. I feel it is how we see (feel) music that controls our "bias" and hence our attitude towards "Raaja" or "Rehman". I may not want to compare which one of these "drives" is superior. Personally, I would wait for quite sometime to compare both. If ARR had emerged 10 years after IR would physically retire (just an assumption), then we might not have seen such sycophancies or bashings as we see now from so called high class IR or ARR fans.The comparison would have been based on facts rather than liking or favoritism. The overlap between IR and ARR is quite long ( almost 10 years). We dont see threads rigorously comparing MSV and IR, b'cos the time of overlap between them was not big. This factor might also be another reason behind the IR vs ARR comparison "psychology".
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 64.173.10.249) on: Wed Oct 24 23:40:59 EDT 2001
  
  I am going to start a new age/world cuisine restauant in India. Here are the menu items I am proposing. Please give me your feedback -
  Break fast
  ----------
  1) Kaaram waffle
  2) Mexican omellette with vengAyam/pachai milagai
  3) thaalichcha muffin
  4) Hash brown potatoes with andhrA milagai
  
  Lunch Buffet
  ------------
  1) Pizza with pAvakkai toppings
  2) Rigatoni pasta with tomato chutney
  3) Bread sandwich with potatoes/peas
  4) Cheese Enchilada kurma
  
  Dinner
  -------
  1) MeatLoaf with Soy protein and vengAya pachchadi
  2) Tortellini in vatha kuzhambu sauce
  
  Dessert
  --------
  1) ElakkAi icecream served on a plate with a slice of coconut and mango sauce.
  2) Mango pie with strawberry icecream
  
  hmm..what do guys think about the recipes ?
  :) :) :)
  
  
• From: velramanan (@ 202.56.194.143) on: Thu Oct 25 05:01:59 EDT 2001
  
  Dear "whynot"...excellent points...you have enhanced that "brand-loyalty" angle brought in by Mani...
  
  Dear Guru, since you have said you have been to threads that featured "raja-rehman comparison craps", i am eagerly expecting you to contribute a lot more to this topic.I specially liked your line,"Personally, I would wait for quite sometime to compare both."...quite a matured thought Guru...
  
  
• From: velramanan (@ 202.56.194.143) on: Thu Oct 25 05:07:19 EDT 2001
  
  dear whynot..your following line was an absolute winner...sounded like you were an experienced psychologist.
  
  ...//"The psychology is you simply fill in the missing blanks with desirable attributes which simply stem out of your own imagination."//....
  
  Bulls-eye dear "whynot" (i wish i knew your name)...BULLSEYE!!!!!!!
  
  
• From: Pras (@ 193.56.241.19) on: Thu Oct 25 08:12:45 EDT 2001
  
  Usually, Rahman fans start this kind of topics ... cos they need to ensure that Rahman is better than ILL ....
  Fans of ILL don't need that ....
  
  
• From: velramanan (@ 202.56.193.246) on: Thu Oct 25 09:34:30 EDT 2001
  
  Whynot, Mani, Guru and Bharat..more inputs please.. Let me briefly put together what we have arrived at so far.
  
  Karthik S – Doest not see any rocket science here. He says,“these “raja-rehman comparison craps” see participation mainly from people who think IR is great but ARR is useless or viceversa.”
  
  Whynot – He says,“ these “raja-rehman comparison craps” finally comes down to the individual personality wherein rational ones will still watch what they say and maintain calm, and respect for others, while the emotional ones and the Type A personalities will resort to personal attacks, vulgarities and digressions from the main point.” (Good points Whynot)
  
  Bharat – He says,“ the first gut reaction when someone disagrees with you is the offense taken at the insult to your judgement by someone disagreeing with it. Since you believe his decision making parameters and background is similar to yours..you automatically think he/she has missed some fundametal points in coming to the judgement.” (Again, brilliant point!!!)
  
  Mani – Stunningly brings in the brand loyalty angle to the discussion. He says,“ since people grow up with a certain set of brand names (like IR), they unconsciously develop a strong identity with the brand (say IR for music). And when someone questions that, they feel their very identity is being criticized.”
  
  Guru – Says,“ one would wait for quite sometime to compare both. If ARR had emerged after IR had retired, then we might not have seen such sycophancies or bashings. (Nice thought…)
  
  [And as I said, carefully avoid traps that distracters might try to set up now & then. The going in this topic has been great, thanks to you guys :-)]
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Thu Oct 25 10:26:43 EDT 2001
  
  "carefully avoid traps that distracters might try to set up now & then"
  
  Good Joke! Joker's forum...Jokerkalaga paarthu nadathum nalla drama ithu...Keep discussing...I can read and laugh more...
  
  
• From: velramanan (@ 202.56.193.246) on: Thu Oct 25 11:09:54 EDT 2001
  
  Whynot, Mani, Guru and Bharat..more inputs please.. Let me briefly put together what we have arrived at so far.
  
  Karthik S – Doest not see any rocket science here. He says,“these “raja-rehman comparison craps” see participation mainly from people who think IR is great but ARR is useless or viceversa.”
  
  Whynot – He says,“ these “raja-rehman comparison craps” finally comes down to the individual personality wherein rational ones will still watch what they say and maintain calm, and respect for others, while the emotional ones and the Type A personalities will resort to personal attacks, vulgarities and digressions from the main point.” (Good points Whynot)
  
  Bharat – He says,“ the first gut reaction when someone disagrees with you is the offense taken at the insult to your judgement by someone disagreeing with it. Since you believe his decision making parameters and background is similar to yours..you automatically think he/she has missed some fundametal points in coming to the judgement.” (Again, brilliant point!!!)
  
  Mani – Stunningly brings in the brand loyalty angle to the discussion. He says,“ since people grow up with a certain set of brand names (like IR), they unconsciously develop a strong identity with the brand (say IR for music). And when someone questions that, they feel their very identity is being criticized.”
  
  Guru – Says,“ one would wait for quite sometime to compare both. If ARR had emerged after IR had retired, then we might not have seen such sycophancies or bashings. (Nice thought…)
  
  [And as I said, carefully avoid traps that distracters might try to set up now & then. The going in this topic has been great, thanks to you guys :-)]
  
  
• From: Raycas (@ 212.186.40.21) on: Thu Oct 25 11:20:36 EDT 2001
  
  damn good thread! even the funny remarks from guys like fliflo who make fun about this thread is enjoyable...
  one thing is for sure: great guys with great thoughts are speaking here...go on guys...
  
  

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