…he so buried himself in his books that he spent the nights reading from twilight till daybreak and the days from dawn till dark; and so from little sleep and much reading, his brain dried up and he lost his wits…In fact, now that he had utterly wrecked his reason he fell into the strangest fancy that ever a madman had in the whole world. He thought it fit and proper, both in order to increase his renown and to serve the state, to become knight errant…[1]

          This passage gives evidence of Cervantes’ intention of not limiting the real danger posed by this kind of literature (of falling into madness; that is, of ending up with a dried-up brain) to an isolated case: Alonso Quijano the Good, the main character of the novel. The popular jargon, quite fashionable nowadays in Spain, uses the expression brainwashing; which describes remarkably well a phenomenon that is more widespread and of far more damaging consequences among ordinary people than what is commonly thought. I am referring to the problem of the manipulation of the masses by those who have the Power while staying in the background, which is precisely what Cervantes was then pointing at.

          The Liars and the Tricksters are made up of two well-defined and clearly differentiated groups. Those who remain in the background belong to the first group; the clearest and most efficient example, and probably the only one, of this group is Freemasonry. The second group consists of the ideologists, on the one hand, and those who act as puppets, on the other. Among the utopian thinkers we can recall such characteristic examples as Maritain and Karl Marx, in spite of their belonging to such opposed milieus as belief and unbelief – which does not impede that both, like two tributaries of the same river, end up merging in the same place. Among those who play their parts as puppets or marionettes, we can mention two most illuminating exemplars: Mr. Rodríguez Zapatero, the President of Spain, and Mr. Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America.

          But in reality, those who hide in the background, the brains of the System, are the ones who, in fact, use members of both second groups to manipulate people.  Typically, those used as visible instruments for their plans are presented as charismatic leaders, saviors of society and even of the entire humanity.

          And let us remember that manipulation of the masses in the sixteenth century is a mere joke when compared to the present time. In that century, using books as a means to make up and spread lies and utopias (in reality, both are the same thing) was barely effective. In the present age, the technical means available to the Tyrants and to all the sort of Tricksters of Masses are very powerful and terribly effective.

          Cervantes takes direct aim at the lies and falsehoods of the Knight Errantry Literature as being the perpetrators of such dire consequences among common people. In my opinion, I cannot be accused of extrapolating the problem when I say that Cervantes aimed his artillery against knight errantry books as such – but more so, and above all, against the huge number of fantasies, falsehoods, and lies which they contained – which were narrated as if they held real and beneficial facts, in spite of being quite capable of drying out the brains of the people.

         Upon close examination of both the content and the ideology of the knight errantry books, three conclusions can be drawn.

          First, the details and adventures narrated in them are so imaginary and unreal, as well as outlandish, that they can be considered without any qualms as absolute falsehoods.                 

Second, in spite of their outlandishness, those adventures are presented as beneficial, as being accomplished by generous and courageous heroes and heroines whose only intention is to procure the welfare of their fellowmen and to restore peace and justice. In other words, they try to right all the wrongs that fill up the world: to assist orphans, to help the destitute (the oppressed by the bourgeoisie, to use modern language), to protect pupils and widows, to punish evildoers, to restore justice, etc.

          Third, in spite of staging such a nonsensical and unreal collection of events, characters, and purposes, they are presented to us not only as real and possible, but also as the best and only way to achieve the restoration of justice and peace in human society (in today’s language: the ushering in of a New World Order or a New Age).

(To be continued)

[1] Don Quixote, I, 1.