Comments on: the unliqlo monsoon

By: andy

andy — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:09:57 +0000

Asi, that made my morning, thank you. :)

I just did an LOL – which btw was a totally individual act. Everyone around me had stern looking faces.

By: Asi

Asi — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 06:06:14 +0000

To follow up on Dr. Tait’s analysis, I would like, with your permission, to suggest a different angle:

Iain asked:

“Is it a feeling of injustice that something is being unfairly moonsoonized that motivates you?”

It might be this kind of so called ‘external motivation’ but i have another suggestion. In this culture of HERD, raindrops and monsoons, we have, occasionally, the need to stand out from the crowd. So perhaps, on some unconscious level you chose the Utweet monsoon to assert your individuality? Perhaps, when you realised that “no one acts alone anymore” the potential horrific anxiety in this realisation had to be offset by the natural defense mechanism – the act of searching and asserting your sense of complete, separate self. Therefore it wasn’t belonging or acceptance you sought, but quite the opposite – a separation from the crowd and a stronger sense of self.

;-)

By: andy

andy — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:11:38 +0000

@iain

yes

;)

By: Iain

Iain — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:10:32 +0000

I know how it feels when you feel an unjust monsoon of praise is brewing. And I’m no stranger to trying to weather the storm myself on occasion.

What’s perhaps most interesting to me is not the crowd / herd stuff. I’m more interested in YOU (slips on his psychoanalyst jacket). What was the moment when you decided you had to say something? I’m sure there’s many things you feel a bit ‘meh’ about. But you don’t choose to Tweet about all of them (perhaps you should?). Is it a feeling of injustice that something is being unfairly moonsoonized that motivates you?

The other interesting thing from an analytical point of view is the way you formed the question in your tweet. The only acceptable answer to your question is (as Nik wrote) ‘no’ (you are not the only person). Because obviously you aren’t the only person who thinks that given the population of Twitter. So were you really just seeking acceptance and yearning for a sense of belonging?

;-)

By: andy

andy — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:04:32 +0000

@Charles
I don’t disagree with that. But this isn’t a commentary on Uniqlo at all, or a post about whether the Utweet thing is good or not. It’s about the elastic-significance of things when they can be both isolated and clustered at the same time.

By: Nicky Gibson - Monster-Munch & Poke

Nicky Gibson - Monster-Munch & Poke — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:44:50 +0000

Interesting thinking about this magnifying effect and how it people respond to it. Especially for things like the #DEBill and all the surrounding chatter. Seems there’s a fine line between a highly tweeted, interesting subject, and a massive bore :) The time period from interesting to annoying feels like it gets shorter all the time. Is that a reflection on my level of patience and concentration, or the volume of of ‘stuff’ out there to think about?

I get cause-commitment guilt :)

By: Charles Frith

Charles Frith — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:28:26 +0000

This is fair commentary on Uniqlo but it’s important to point out that Uniqlo have built a great reputation for repeatedly producing likeable digital raindrops. They have form and like Apple we like to keep an eye on them no?