Euroblog relaunch
This post is archived. Opinions expressed herein may no longer represent my current views. Links, images and other media might not work as intended. Information may be out of date. For further questions contact me.
I will restart blogging on European Union affairs. The present website, protesilaos.com, shall host my analyses. Expect to see regular updates. In case you are interested in the context of this decision, please continue reading.
A quick look at this blog’s archive will reveal that I have been active since February 2011. I started off with articles on European Union politics and economics. About a year later, I found myself working at the European Parliament as a parliamentary assistant to an MEP. Because of my professional duties and an inexorable inner need to revaluate my conduct and its underlying beliefs, I took the decision to quit blogging on EU affairs.
Everything was leading to that eventuality, which came about in the summer of 2013. It coincided with—or was invigorated by—my growing desire to reflect on the abstract features of my thought. I grew to recognise the philosophical tendency I was exhibiting on all things intellectual. Willing to embrace it and refine it, I started doing philosophy; a constant in my life from mid-2013 hitherto. The fruits of that labour are found on this very website in text form.
Times change and I evolve with them. Hopefully my person matures and, with things falling in place, everything becomes clearer. In hindsight, I may acknowledge that when I first ventured into blogging, I was rather inexperienced, crude, obstinate. It was typical of me to confound the analytical features of my work with the ideological, the actual with the whimsical. To put it succinctly, I do not like my earlier writings. Were it not for their passive function of gauging my progress, they would be swept into the dustbin.
There are two reasons for relaunching the euroblog:
- Material. For all intents and purposes, I have been in unemployment for a full year. Though there are contextual/structural factors at play, it is imperative I do all I can to improve my chances at finding a decent job. That entails proving my merit on the subject I presumably know best. Though it embitters me, I have to admit that philosophy—or rather my philosophising—will not pay the bills.
- Academic. One of the assumptions guiding my life, was that I would become a scholar. At some point, I wished to do a PhD in philosophy. As of now, I have no resources for undertaking such a task, while I no longer consider philosophy to be a materially viable option. If the academic path ever becomes accessible, I will choose some subject that has better chances than philosophy at improving my standard of living.
From now on, all articles on this website will focus on the EU. I might still publish something more abstract, though I will try to relate it to contemporary issues. My sincere apologies to any reader who followed me for my purely philosophical output.
I do understand that the euroblogging milieu may have evolved as well. I do not purport to know whether this renewed effort of mine will yield any tangible results and/or prove useful to anyone. Also, I do not re-enter the scene in some cavalier fashion of “making a major impact”. I just intend to present my point of view without being eristic and antagonistic. At any rate, consider this turn a statement of intent: to access the labour market once again, providing political-economic analyses in the process.
Thank you!