Opinión y publicidad en el tradicionalismo español durante la era isabelina

Abstract

Since the end of the XVIIIth century the modern concept of public opinion was known in Spain. It referred to the capacity of society to publicly criticize Government. To counterattack this new concept, the Spanish traditionalism pursued a double strategy: on the one hand, it challenged the very idea of public opinion; on the other hand, it replaced it by a nationalist, populist alternative («the true public opinion»). Against the liberal interpretation of a reason-based public opinion, the traditionalists argued that this rationalist endeavor would be misleading and would provoke the disunion of Spaniards. Reason, it was assumed, should cede to religion, which was deemed to be, even more than monarchy, the main spiritual linkage among the Spaniards. Furthermore, according to Balmes, the «true public opinion» lies at the «true Spanish people»-a Catholic, pure and traditionalist people, champion of the national tradition and values, hostile to liberalism and even radically alien to politics: a passive people always obedient to the Catholic clergy. That way, the nationalist myth of a «true Spain» was formed-a traditionalist, absolutist, and Catholic Spain in front of an enlightened, cosmopolitan, and liberal anti-Spain.