Talk:The Order of Toledo

Not Altogether Accurate

The author of this mess appears to rely on several sources, most of which are in Spanish, which I can't read. However, the primary source, Luis Buñuel's autobiography "My Last Breath", is available in an English translation, which I have. Since Buñuel was the actual founder of the Order, presumably you would consider him a reliable source, as opposed to what appear to be very recent and very obscure self-published pamphlets, some of which use language so absurdly pretentious I suspect they were never meant to be taken seriously.

Buñuel's book is both cited and directly quoted, yet whoever wrote this article doesn't appear to have read the relevant part of it very carefully, even though it's only four pages long. For example, your article states: "the Order had some strict rules, catalogued in a retrospective account by Buñuel", followed by a list of these rules supposedly quoted from Buñuel's book. This quoting appears to be so selective it must be deliberate, though what point there is in distorting this material in such a way escapes me. Here's an actual Buñuel quote from the same material, all of which comes from Chapter 7, pages 71-74: "There were really only two rules: each member had to contribute ten pesetas to the communal pot (meaning, to me), and he had to go to Toledo as often as possible and place himself in a state of receptivity for whatever unforgettable experiences might happen along."

Here's another quote from your article: "Buñuel notes in his memoirs that at the beginning of the Civil War, an anarchist brigade in Madrid found a box marked “Order of Toledo” during a registration. The keeper of the box tried to explain that the name was not a real noble title, but in the end, it cost him his life." This quote cites the book I have in front of me as a source. What Buñuel actually says is: "In one of his articles, Moreno Villa wrote that at the start of the Civil War, an anarchist brigade discovered a document bestowing a membership in the Order of Toledo during one of its house searches in Madrid. The unfortunate owner of this piece of paper barely escaped with his life; he had a hard time explaining that he wasn't a titled aristocrat."

It seems to me that the author of this article is either making things up to suit some obscure agenda, or simply can't be bothered to get it right. Whether the more obscure sources in Spanish are misquoted in a similar way I don't know, but all things considered it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe someone who can read Spanish and isn't an idiot should give this muddle a thorough makeover? 81.151.90.247 (talk) 02:24, 6 July 2024 (UTC)