What has been cut apart cannot be glued back together. Abandon all hope of totality, future as well as past, you who enter the world of fluid modernity. Zygmunt Bauman More Quotes by Zygmunt Bauman More Quotes From Zygmunt Bauman We already have plenty of fundamentalism and fundamental sects like for instance Rabbi Schneerson and Chabad Lubavitch. They feel more secure because they are in the warm, caring/sharing community. This is the difference between community (Gemeinschaft) and what Ferdinand Tönnies called Gesellschaft: a kind of setting in which you have no rights to do anything unless you pay for it, and no right to get anything unless you prove that you are 'credit worthy'. In a Gemeinschaft, however, you have a place at the table guaranteed whatever happens. Zygmunt Bauman differencescaringrights What is happening now is that the number of people who are not strong enough or do not feel strong enough to decide to live without the security provided by the community or the state, is going up. Zygmunt Bauman strongnumberspeople We are always confronted with choice. Zygmunt Bauman choices I worry about the Israeli moral standard, Israeli humanity. Zygmunt Bauman moralhumanityworry Freedom is the slogan of the strong, who feel self confident, self sufficient to do it alone. Zygmunt Bauman strongselffeels Freedom is the slogan which speaks to the ears of people who feel strong enough to manage on their own using their own resources, who can do without dependency because they can do without others caring for them. Zygmunt Bauman strongcaringpeople Security was the demand which set in motion labour movements in history; trade unions, friendly societies, consumer cooperatives were all about compensating for the impotence of individual resistance. Zygmunt Bauman demandlabour-movementfriendly The tragedy is what - given the 'right circumstances,' - normal decent folks, like you and me, will do. This is what makes me worry whenever looking on the road that Israel entered and shows no intention of leaving. Zygmunt Bauman leavingisraelworry Security is the slogan for people who feel unable to function by their own means. Zygmunt Bauman functionmeanpeople In Montreal, where I taught in 1970, I met many people. The only ones who said to me they were Canadians, were Jews. All the rest were Scotts, Irish, English, French, Swedes. Zygmunt Bauman montrealtaughtpeople As long as being a stranger and surrounded by strangers was seen as a temporary irritant, a smallest departure from the binding rules of conduct by a member of a minority, was taken for a major crime justifying deportation. Zygmunt Bauman minoritiestakenlong Throughout early modernity there were very strong pressures on Jews to assimilate. Assimilating meant cutting your ties with the community of origin. Zygmunt Bauman cuttingtiesstrong In Celan's words a Jew is "a man with a little book under the shoulder." We are the keepers of tradition. Zygmunt Bauman littlesmenbook The Bible provides unity without imposing uniformity, without prohibiting change; it is a standing invitation to thinking and to take responsibilities. Zygmunt Bauman unityresponsibilitythinking With every death, a world is disappearing. Zygmunt Bauman disappearworld The task is to keep the lost opportunities of the past alive. Zygmunt Bauman tasksopportunitypast Jews are no longer pressed and obliged to fight, hide or deny their Jewishness. What for? No one actually requires today to abandon the idiosyncrasy of some other culture or ethnic tradition. The great achievement of this last period is that we have been slowly, sometimes reluctantly, yet steadily, learning the art of living with differences. Zygmunt Bauman other-culturesfightingart With globalization and with a lot of power evaporating from the nation-states, the late-19th century established hierarchies of importance, or 'pecking orders' of cultures, presenting assimilation as an advancement or promotion, dissolved. Zygmunt Bauman advancementorderculture The question of identity has separated from the issue of 'assimilation', having lost much of its drama and become, so to speak, a secular problem. Zygmunt Bauman issuesidentitydrama Some dozens of years ago, there was a debate conducted between people insisting that "this loaf of bread must be redistributed," and the others who said "instead of worrying about redistributing it, cutting differently, let's make it bigger." A third possibility was not imagined: that the loaf may be shrinking. But it is now a genuine possibility. It is even acting upon already, like in the case of the American invasion of Afghanistan and of Iraq in order to secure the supply of petrol for the Americans addicted to gas-guzzling cars. Zygmunt Bauman cuttingorderyears
