Introduction
“Without prejudice” is a commonly used legal expression, particularly when parties are negotiating an out-of-court settlement or wish to prevent certain communications from later being used in proceedings in a way that could prejudice their position.
It is an expression I have fully embraced over the past couple of years.
More specifically, I became rather fascinated by it when one individual decided to place it prominently at the beginning of our correspondence, despite there being no obvious legal purpose for doing so. Its main function appeared to be adding a certain level of pomposity to the communication.
I say this not only because he later attempted to rely on those same communications in legal proceedings, but also because the opinion he appeared to hold of me was, quite literally, rich in prejudice.
The entire performance felt heavily seasoned with hypocrisy, and his choice of words was, in my view, rather unfortunate.
More broadly, within the social and economic environment in which we are fortunate enough to spend our lives, a person with his principles and political views could quite easily become a highly prejudiced character.
Regardless of all that, I adopted the expression in all its formality, irony and grandiloquence. I particularly enjoy placing it immediately before saying something controversial, politically incorrect or likely to provoke disagreement.
It adds an edge. I beg you to differ.
it works as the perfect sophisticated, slightly unusual and deliberately overdramatic joke.
WHO IS WHO? WHAT IS THIS?
This is not a fancy magazine, nor is it curated by any particularly distinguished name. It is simply the personal blog of a rather highly opinionated individual.
Unfortunately, I have always been this way. Over time, however, the subjects of my opinions have shifted quite substantially. These days, they tend to be political, rooted in the distant yet persistent belief that we live in a society where the rule of law determines what is acceptable and what is not.
That is, of course, the easy way of putting it. In practice, things are considerably more complicated.
You may reasonably ask: what is the point of all this?
It has no point if you are not looking for one. But if you are interested in the perspective of a millennial attempting to navigate this particular moment in history—while generally occupying the left-hand side of political debate and maintaining broadly liberal values—you are on the right page.
And no, I do not consider myself “woke.” I dislike the term, and I am perfectly capable of recognising when political arguments are stretched to such absurd extremes that they begin to feel almost surreal.
My views are shaped by analysis, research, data and verifiable facts. Too much of the modern press is filled with sensationalist nonsense designed to satisfy one side of the debate or the other, while instructing us what to think, how to react and whom to condemn.
Fuck that.
My aim is to explore widely discussed political and social issues, express my personal opinions and test the dominant narratives against the evidence I can find. I do not claim to possess the absolute truth, but I am interested in looking beyond headlines, political slogans and convenient outrage.
You may agree with me. GREAT CHOICE.
You may strongly disagree. EVEN BETTER, I LOVE CONFRONTATIONS.
Either way, I would rather provoke an honest discussion than contribute another carefully curated piece of meaningless noise.
