Hythloday Today

For those non poli-sci students, or anyone else who doesn't catch the allusion, Raphael Hythloday was born in 1516, from the mind of Sir/Saint Thomas More, roughly 20 years before that notable personage lost his head over his refusal to endorse his boss Henry's indulgence in the universal royal pastime of doing whatever the hell he pleased. Turns out that More's political sin of snubbing local, tangible interests in favor of distant theological concerns was a bad idea, especially where the local Snubee in Question (Anne Boleyn) had a brother, father, and an uncle on the panel of judges that tried and sentenced the Snubber. More was ultimately canonized (400 years after his head was removed from its lofty perch on the Tower) for his embodiment of the classic catholic virtue of blind obedience to the Pope, but the only real surprise in that equation is why it took so long for a pope to make Holy a man who was so perfectly immune to the dictates of common sense and self preservation. But all that is neither here nor there.

Hytholday sprang into being not only fully grown, but also with a notable history, not the least of which was his being among those abandoned by Amerigo Vespucchi in Brazil, circa 1501. After this unscheduled landfall, Hytholday spent several years wandering the world before finding his way to Calcutta and catching a ride home with a boatload of his Portuguese countrymen. Between his marooning and his homecoming, Hythloday passed five years in a land called Utopia, tales of which he would later relate. He and More hypothetically met in Antwerp, where More was on a political errand prior to his appointment as Chancellor, and where Hythloday appears to have been aimlessly pontificating, and drinking a great deal.

Personally, I'm not a believer in Utopia - nor in any other example of totalitarianism. Isms, in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an Ism, they should believe in themselves. I quote John Lennon: "I don't believe in the Beatles, I just believe in me." Pretty profound, when you consider he was the Walrus.

But whatever; More didn't believe in Utopia either. I do like Raphael Hythloday, and not just because the translation of his name from Greek is "Speaker of Nonsense." (I confess that is a selling point.) What I like most about Hythloday is his attitude. Here was a man, albeit fictional, from a good family, well off, highly educated, and a world traveler. Very astute, and with a noble heart, he could - as both More and Peter Giles observed - find himself a post advising any King, to the great benefit of both Hythloday and whatever kingdom that might be. There was just one problem: Hythloday just couldn't bring himself to give a shit.

I empathize with that.

As for blogging... Why not. It might be fun.