here you go

Mi-am adus aminte de o secventa din filmul Reality Bites, care m-a intristat foarte tare atunci cand l-am vazut . Ma pus pe ganduri si acum. Lelaina (Winona Ryder) aplicase pentru un post la un ziar local; la finalul unui interviu dezastruos, redactorul o intreaba “Can you define ‘irony’?”.

Cuvinte carora le cunoastem sensul, dar nu le  putem defini. E doar unul dintre testele simple care ne demonstreaza cat de mult ne bazam in comunicare pe o intelegere comuna. Folosim mai putine cuvinte si mai multe simboluri. Nu m-am hotarat inca daca e bine sau rau. Cu siguranta e mai simplu. Dar cred ca, in graba noastra, am pierdut din nunate si interpretari. Cand etichetez un film drept ‘misto’, el automat intra in aceasi categorie cu celelalte 1000 de filme misto pe care le-am vazut. Daca ar trebui sa insir o lista de adjective, as gasi mai multe in engleza decat in romana. Am pierdut pe drum atatea cuvinte, incat ma astept sa ajung in curand la limbajul semnelor. Dar tot o sa stiu sa definesc ironia. Poate nu si sarcasmul.

Rezolutia mea? Mai multe vorbe.

“Liquid Modernity” is Zygmunt Bauman’s term for the present condition of the world as contrasted with the “solid” modernity that preceded it. According to Bauman, the passage from “solid” to “liquid” modernity has created a new and unprecedented setting for individual life pursuits, confronting individuals with a series of challenges never before encountered.

Social forms and institutions no longer have enough time to solidify and cannot serve as frames of reference for human actions and long-term life plans, so individuals have to find other ways to organize their lives.

Individuals have to splice together an unending series of short-term projects and episodes that don’t add up to the kind of sequence to which concepts like “career” and “progress” could be meaningfully applied.

Such fragmented lives require individuals to be flexible and adaptable — to be constantly ready and willing to change tactics at short notice, to abandon commitments and loyalties without regret and to pursue opportunities according to their current availability. In liquid modernity the individual must act, plan actions and calculate the likely gains and losses of acting (or failing to act) under conditions of endemic uncertainty.”

Stumbled upon it on http://trendwatching.com/trends/nowism/.
Zygmunt Bauman books:
2001: Community. Seeking Safety in an Insecure World. Cambridge
2001: The Individualized Society. Cambridge
2002: Society Under Siege. Cambridge
2003: Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds, Cambridge
2004: Wasted Lives. Modernity and its Outcasts. Cambridge
2005: Liquid Life. Cambridge
2006: Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty. Cambridge
2007: Consuming Life. Cambridge
2008: The Art of Life. Cambridge
Free article on new ethics: Alone again- Ethics after certainty