‘Homo Malus Est’ means ‘man is evil.’
The big question of course is whether man refers to men or humanity in general, and I cannot answer that question. The correct interpretation has been a point of fierce debate within the sisterhood for hundreds of years.
Arguments for ‘men are evil’
- before the rise of the sisterhood of carnassus was a brutal patriarchal misogynistic society that did not just oppress women but brutalise them.
- The sisterhood is not a collective or a brotherhood or a society it is a sisterhood – only open to females.
- Sisterhood narratives an interpretation of history constantly blame men for the cause of war and other evils in society
Arguments for ‘man is evil’
- If our founder (we shall deal with her in a future post) had wanted to say that men were evil then she would have said it.
- The sisterhood is in some ways what we would call on our planet politically correct, therefore fundamentally opposed to tarring any particular group or gender with characteristics the results purely from being part of that particular group or gender.
- Such a stance would alienate men and be divisive, which is completely opposite to the mission of the sisterhood.
- The fundamental philosophy of the sisterhood is that human beings all have the capacity for evil therefore it seems logical that man refers to humanity.
Conclusion
It is unlikely to be a comment about men, but does keep in mind the empirical fact that men are behind a lot of the problems humanity faces.
How can we have a motto in Latin if the sisterhood is from a planet 336 light years away. Did the Romans extend their empire so far?
When the sisterhood arrives at a planet and makes first contact they translate all of their material into cultural forms which are comprehensible to that culture. Because Karnassus had the same history as most humanoid planets – one previously dominated by men – their native language also has a play on words between man and men in general.
Also, their motto is in an antique version of the local language, therefore it makes sense to put it into Latin both to get the linguistic ambiguity and the sense of antiquity.
