A group of users has appeared on Twitter who admit they have not read The Quijote. Far from maintaining this fact as a lack of greater or lesser importance in their lives, they show it off and They try to find a justification in the echo of others. There are excuses and understandable reasons in their arguments and we also perceive a certain tiredness and an enormous desire to demolish a myth that, for them, is beginning to smell rancid.
Ignorance is very bold and, when it occurs in groups, it can become flammable. Silence is a luxury that few can afford in this world of cheap opinions, immediate jokes with punctuation, and automatic dopamine rewards like the cookie the obedient dog receives. Showing a lack with pride is a complicated attitude that usually portrays the ignorant, the stubborn and the loudmouth. Silence is, increasingly, a trait of the wise.
A user of the aforementioned social network was surprised to see that no one in her conversation knew Dulcinea del Toboso’s real name. And she opened Pandora’s box. Among the cheap jokes, parodies and other small-time arguments that can be read in the discussion, there are some redeemable ideas in this small outbreak of sincere cultural measles.. Some of those who demonstrate there explain that they hated the book because of the way it was imposed on them at school. Others complain about having to answer leading questions about names, colors, descriptions and other details of the text to justify reading it.
The digitally ignorant might not be so more easily, but they are more so, because they are ignorant and stubborn.
It’s true. It happened to many of us and I have seen that it continues to happen, but now not in schools or institutes that, unfortunately, have mostly given up reading the novel and are content with a watered down theory and reading four sentences of the original. The virus of the test – also called control for tacky and undocumented people – has long since reached the faculties of Hispanic Philology where teachers make sure that the student has read the book through tests unsmokable on digital platforms that are enemies of good taste and culture.
The digital ignorant might not be so more easily, but they are more so, because they are ignorant and stubborn.. You could perhaps watch a wonderful video online in which someone explains The Quijote with passion and, perhaps, from there, approach again with your own and not imposed interest to an undeniable gem. But digital, unfortunately, it makes everything more difficult for us. It takes away our patience, it unnerves us, it demands jokes, nonsense, buffoonery and controversy. It is difficult for us to control the beast.
Meanwhile, some posh people, without knowing it, give their daughters names that appear in The Quijote. Others are fascinated by watching television series in which the brilliant idea that Cervantes proposed is repeated in different contexts and with other faces, but They believe they have seen the most modern. The clumsiest repeat incorrect phrases from the book as proverbs without knowing where they came from and do not understand anything. The saddest thing is that They are still very far from realizing how ignorant they are.
