«A mi juicio, lo característico del arte nuevo, “desde el punto de vista sociológico”, es que divide al público en estas dos clases de hombres: los que lo entienden y los que no lo entienden. Esto implica que los unos poseen un órgano de comprensión negado, por tanto, a los otros; que son dos variedades distintas de la especie humana. El arte nuevo, por lo visto, no es para todo el mundo, como el romántico, sino que va desde luego dirigido a una minoría especialmente dotada. De aquí la irritación que despierta en la masa. Cuando a uno no le gusta una obra de arte, pero la ha comprendido, se siente superior a ella y no ha lugar a la irritación. Mas cuando el disgusto que la obra causa nace de que no se la ha entendido, queda el hombre como humillado, con una oscura conciencia de su inferioridad que necesita compensar mediante la indignada afirmación de sí mismo frente a la obra. El arte joven, con sólo presentarse, obliga al buen burgués a sentirse tal y como es: buen burgués, ente incapaz de sacramentos artísticos, ciego y sordo a toda belleza pura. Ahora bien, esto no puede hacerse impunemente después de cien años de halago omnímodo a la masa y apoteosis del “pueblo”. Habituada a predominar en todo, la masa se siente ofendida en sus “derechos del hombre” por el arte nuevo, que es un arte de privilegio, de nobleza de nervios, de aristocracia instintiva. Dondequiera que las jóvenes musas se presentan, la masa las cocea.»
José Ortega y Gasset: La deshumanización del arte y otros ensayos de estética. Espasa Libros, págs. 54-55. Barcelona, 2017.
I reewatched Hondo's Clone Wars episodes last night and was having thoughts as to the dynamic of Aurra Sing and Hondo's relationship.
He calls her a "dangerous woman," which offhand you think, yes, she very much is. She is a skilled bounty hunter that can hold her own. But, if we really sit there and analyze the conversation we can learn a lot about Mr. Ohnaka and Ms. Sing.
"Oh, my dear. You never were good at asking for permission to land."
Hondo is a man who has hundreds of subordinates beneath him. He is used to being in charge of himself, and of his own enterprise. This line right here tells you, though he is amicable enough, that most likely half of the reason they parted aways was because Aurra Sing very much had a mind of her own, one that behaved in such a way that it clashed with Hondo's expectations when it came to things like jobs or working together at the business level. It was something he could not tolerate most likely for personal reasons as well. He has a reputation to upkeep. Some of his men, from Hondo's very first appearance, already think he's a pushover or "can't do anything without them," and try to fuck up his plans for their own personal gain.
The aforementioned line was the nice way of saying "I did not invite you here. What do you want?" There is no doubt that this power imbalance translated to other areas of their lives, as we see from the very next line.
"I never ask for permission to do anything." Aurra proceeds to kiss Hondo on the mouth in front of little Boba Fett and all his men.
It makes me wonder if there has actually been times Hondo denied her landing and she paid him no mind, thus her calling on him when her company was unwanted and leading to further "issues" that complicated their partnership, both in or out of the bedroom.
Hondo is a busy man, he has many things going on at once, and is a captain of an infamous gang of pirates. Also, I imagine there are times he says fuck everything and needs a moment to himself as he's mostly surrounded by idiots or deviants who want to stab him in the back. If Hondo is not in the mood for a controlling, dominating presence like Aurra sing, for her to show up anyway against his wishes is probably maddening on some level. I see Hondo as getting frustrated easily with people who don't listen the first time, as we see when he interacts with his crew.
Continued "insubordination" would most likely slowly chip away at not only his patience, but his happiness. Hondo's happiness is important. When Hondo is not happy, nobody is happy. Nobody who is a member of his gang, at least.
In addition, he is also a "go with the flow" kind of guy and makes the best of an otherwise bad situation where possible. I am sure he wore his mask of "I am so happy to see you, my dear," on more than one occasion, when in reality he was screaming inside. But, with someone like Sing, or anyone else in a position of power, it is in his best interest to keep up friendly appearances or to at least be civil. Making unnecessary enemies only complicates things. The more people like you, the easier it is to navigate the galaxy.
"Yes, I remember," Hondo says as he wipes his mouth off, forcing a laugh.
One, this woman doesn't ask for consent. That kiss was not something Hondo desired or wanted, but was thrusted upon him and the most logical thing was to allow it to run its course. To push her off would have created unwanted hostility between them, mainly on Aurra's end, and I am sure Hondo is well aware of what can happen when Aurra gets pissed off.
Two, he felt the need to laugh to lessen the blow of the truth for her sake. His tone of voice said it all. Had he come back with something a bit ruder, a bit more "in your face," Aurra would have most likely raised her blaster or made some other kind of threat. She has a short temper and doesn't really like taking "no" for an answer, it seems. Something Hondo is well aware of.
Of course, we get the famous line, "not mine, I take it?"
Whatever happened, they've been fucking nasty. We can guess who wore the pants in this relationship. Especially once Hondo makes his next comment to Castas, the guy who "didn't sign up" for all of this and wants to get away from Aurra and her shenanigans ASAP. Of course, she is irritated by this and calls Castas things like "worthless."
I bet Aurra 100% has tried that shit on Ohnaka, if only when he called it quits. It's true that Hondo does not like to share, but I am sure he was a great host to the many people he invited into his lair, including Aurra Sing to the point of spoiling her. @allsystemsblue and I are both of the firm belief that Hondo would have gone out of his way to make her happy, but I see Aurra as being a person who is rarely satisfied.
To reiterate, it is not implausible that Aurra many times tried to or did degrade Hondo, and in a public setting. I see him as laughing it off in most cases, but that overall he may have been affected by it, if only because others saw him being put down and that he allowed it to happen. Had it been anyone else under his command, for instance, then he would most likely resort to punishment or death for said individual. Not only could Aurra possibly kill Hondo, he did not want to be on her bad side.
To remain cordial, he tolerated it until he could not anymore. Of course, in the bedroom, perhaps he enjoyed it, or is into degradation. And even though Hondo says "business is pleasure," I do not think he means that when it comes to shaming him in front of his horde. To disrespect a leader in front of his legions may cause them to question his authority and cause a mutiny in a worse case scenario. Which, ultimately, happens later on down the line after the Clone Wars when Hondo loses everything and is called "soft."
In the end, I see him as being so fed-up he was probably dismissive of her bullshit. Even if he loved her in some capacity, I am sure Hondo would not tolerate a one-sided relationship forever. He is all about profit, after all, in some way, shape, or form. Whether that be money, or gaining headway in a romantic or platonic relationship.
"You have bled me dry of all my fucks, my dear. I give dem no more. Now, out of my sight. Do not call me, as dey say, I will call you... Eh, maybe. Probably not, but. Et was fun while it lasted, no? No."
To Castas, Hondo says "Couldn't handle her, could you. Well, don't be ashamed. You are not the first man to bail out from under her command."
Whether speaking about himself or not, Aurra seems to think so as she says:
"He's speaking from experience."
Aurra does seem bitter when saying this line, though she is also capable of being civil when she wants to and needs something from someone else, in this case Hondo. Perhaps in this scene, enough time has passed to where she has moved on and can mostly forget about what transpired between them. Maybe she knows it was mostly her fault. Maybe that kiss was a way to say she missed him or simply to exert power over him once again, but Hondo is NOT buying it and it was definitely handled in such a way that it reminded him of all the reasons he got rid of her in the first place, thus him saying, "I remember."
Finally, we hear him say: "Ohohoh, you're a dangerous woman. Yes, very dangerous."
Again, while this seems obvious, I don't think he meant it in the way of "she can kill me," even though he knows she would be a formidable enemy, but in a way that means dangerous for him, as she is unpredictable. I am sure Hondo enjoys a little bit of spice in his life, literally and figuratively, but Aurra herself was even too much for him to handle, and that's because she was only in it for herself. There is no "I" in team. He has enough to worry about, as is.
Although, it is a dog eat dog galaxy out there, and I am sure he understands to some extent. Hondo has to watch his back on all fronts, after all. But, suppose he finds someone he wants to be intimate with, and for them to treat him as such would be a little disappointing to say the very least. Not worth his time or effort in the end. The payout would be zilch, and again, he's about profit.
In fact, by the middle of the episode he denies her this favor she wants. She asks if "he's in?" as far as the job of wanting to kill Mace Windu and get revenge for Boba. He refuses to get caught up in any of her insane stunts. Plo winds up showing up and ruining their plans, but even then Hondo wants the Jedi off his property as soon as possible and even rats her out, to a degree, saying he has "no idea what she has in store for you," but makes it clear he wants no part.
This is a man who is over it. Even if he might tell stories about her or speak of her fondly in the distance "future," I am sure he knows he made the right choice in cutting ties.
Now, knowing all this, it is interesting to think about what man could handle Aurra Sing? Or maybe not a man, but a woman? >D
Anyway, there are my two cents. Shoutout to Teeth for feeding my Hondo obsession, but I'm pretty sure we feed off each other, too. ;D
Los liberales, en sus diferentes acepciones o corrientes, suelen recurrir al argumento de las diferencias biológicas para así justificar las diferencias sociales, A + B = C, y, de manera que podríamos hablar (y podemos) de un darwinismo a la escala de lo social, la selección del «más» acto. Y hasta un nivel más que superficial, podemos encontrar fallas realmente groseras al argumento de las diferencias biológicas para justificar las diferencias sociales, en primer lugar y muy importante, la sociedad compleja de los Homo Sapiens no es dada por la naturaleza, somos la única especie de ser viviente, de entidad biológica que ha podido arrebatarle a la naturaleza sus «secretos» para saciar sus necesidades y mucho más; es decir, producir a partir de la naturaleza aquello para saciar nuestras necesidades. Cuando éramos cazadores-recolectores no producíamos absolutamente nada, porque obteníamos directamente de la naturaleza los satisfactores que suplían nuestras necesidades inmediatas, el hambre, el refugio, etc. El trabajo como tal no existía, o como lo concebimos en épocas posteriores, porque las tareas que hacíamos eran de carácter puntuales, muy concretas, lo que los cazadores-recolectores después de realizar sus tareas, tenían tiempo de sobra para dedicarse a otras actividades, como lo que comenta Yuval Noah Harari en la primera parte de su Sapiens: De animales a dioses (2014), y el cambio radical que sufrimos, el cambio de paradigma de nuestro estilo de vida nómada de cazadores-recolectores a un modo agrícola y sedentario, en el cambio radical de mentalidad que eso nos generó. Ahora, con el cambio de modo de vida, también las obligaciones y necesidades se transformaron, antes nuestro hogar era la tierra entera y nuestro techo el firmamento, después nuestro hogar y libertad de movimiento se restringió a espacios más pequeños y confinados. También, y siguiendo las ideas de Harari en su libro, los cazadores-recolectores no tenían visión a futuro o no se preocupaban demasiado en lo que podría devenir en un tiempo X o indeterminado, más las sociedades agrícolas sí, porque al permanecer toda su vida en un solo lugar (sedentarios), la chance de sufrir calamidades y carencias eran mayores que los que sufrían los cazadores-recolectores, porque al ser nómadas, se las podían arreglar «mudándose» a otro lugar, más los campesinos del neolítico tenían que hacerle frente a las inundaciones, sequías, plagas, etc, en el mismo lugar, en su hogar; por lo tanto, su visión era a largo plazo. Así se empezó con una más que rudimentaria división del trabajo, al estratificarse las sociedades de campesinos del neolítico, se fueron formando las diferentes castas de la sociedad, los dirigentes, los sacerdotes o chamanes, los guerreros, los trabajadores, esclavos, etc, independientemente de las diferencias biológicas de los individuos que componen los grupos sociales.
Ya podemos advertir de la falencia de tal argumentación, y ver que, como las complejas sociedades humanas con sus estructuras no son un producto extraído de la naturaleza, aunque sí es moldeada por ésta, es un aparato artificial, manufacturado por nosotros mismos, y se moldea a nuestros caprichos y cumple un rol eficaz de control social.
La normalización de la desigualdad social, en un mundo y una sociedad madura como la de este momento histórico, es más que un insulto o una fuerte bofetada en el rostro, es la misantropía en su exquisita expresión.
Y para cerrar el comentario, con las palabras de Noah Harari en De animales a dioses, cuando toma el tema de la domesticación de los animales y el trato que el Homo sapiens ha tenido hacia ellos, dice (parafraseando): «¿Cómo podríamos definir el éxito evolutivo de una especie, por la cantidad de copias de su ADN, es decir, por la cantidad de descendencia (cuantitativo) o por la calidad de vida que gozan los individuos de la especie (cualitativa)?»
“De negro y de india, china cambuja”, 1763, Miguel Cabrera, Museum of the Americas, Madrid, Spain.
We usually do not think that the casta paintings could be a nice portrayal of black people, but there are many pieces of this genre of paintings that I find really charming and lovely. Like this one.
This painting shows a black man, an Amerindian woman and their child. And look at them: aren’t they beautiful? Isn’t her rebozo the best shawl you’ve seen lately? Isn’t his red coat with green cuff super nice? Isn’t the child’s printed calico petticoat gorgeous?
This is part of the only known casta painting series made by Miguel Cabrera (and my favourite one) and unlike many other series, that portray the black, indian and mestizo population under a definitely not positive light (making them always the poor and delinquent), this series shows a wide range of people all doing some job, from tailoring or shoemaking to street food vendor (yeah, tacos for everyone!), tobacco cigarettes maker or fruit and vegetable vendors, like this pair. Of course, Cabrera was careful enough to show what kind of food would people sell, how did people dress, what jewellery and accessories they wore, what colour and patterned fabrics they sold, and even what New Spanish fruits and vegetables were available in the markets. Like this example.
Also question time: Did you see the earring of the man? Do you recognize the fruits in the painting? How many of those fruits are nowadays available in the markets near your (like jicama, zapote, bananas, peach, plum)?
🗣La verdad es que quien pretende alcanzar la libertad suplicando a quienes detentan el poder que se la concedan ya ha fracasado, independientemente de la respuesta. Suplicar la bendición de la "autoridad" es aceptar que la elección corresponde sólo al amo, lo que significa que la persona ya es, por definición, un esclavo.
- Larken Rose.
- "Pedid tierra y libertad..." dice un himno de esclavos para esclavos que entonan orgulloso los ignorantes del sur de España.
