Irreverent, Thought-Provoking, Controversial & Likely Offensive.
Why, hello there my fellow misfits, mavericks & misanthropes. And welcome to The Public Server Substack (formerly known as ‘Thinking Out Loud’)… a newsletter with no real publishing schedule, nor a particularly unifying theme. I write whatever I want, whenever I want, and just hope you stick around for the ride.
If you are easily offended, then this publication is most likely not for you. You are not forced to consume this content and are more than capable of making independent choices for your life. Move along, and forget this account even exists.
Welcome to The Public Server’s Substack Publication.
This publication was created by Bradley Dorfan - founder of The Public Server; a blog dedicated to helping victims of the status quo reclaim their lives & their purpose by challenging everything they think they know, together with everything they currently believe, about both themselves and the world around them.
A Recipe For Disaster
For most of my life, I floated through existence, perfectly content to live out my days within the confines of mediocrity and my (rather claustrophobic) comfort zone.
I did what I was told, went to school, didn’t do drugs and ate my vegetables. I was a good boy; kind, agreeable, and (most importantly) quiet.
I took the only road I thought was available to me - I attended university, graduated in the top 10% of my class and even became an admitted attorney. I did what I thought was best for myself and my family. Yet, no matter how hard I tried or how much I did, I was still miserable, unappreciated, overworked and underpaid.
Little did I realise - or care - that a life lived in this way (i.e., pleasure-centric; chasing immediate gratification) would have such a profoundly negative impact on my life.
You see, we have to be willing to have difficult conversations, challenge the status quo, confront our fears, insecurities and doubts, as well as passionately encounter conflict with courage, conviction and confidence.
I truly believed that ignorance was bliss, but nothing could be further from the truth.
We have to appreciate that, by ignoring and avoiding that which makes us uncomfortable and stressed in the moment, our suffering is merely postponed and compounded, because it cannot vanish entirely.
There is an opportunity cost to everything we do. And, when we fail, neglect or refuse to take seriously that which demands serious consideration, we set ourselves up for a mediocre life lived on other people’s terms — people who couldn’t give a single flying fuck about our wants, needs or wellbeing — at the direct expense of our own best interests.
I’ve created this publication as an outlet to voice my concerns about the way in which most of us - including myself - live our lives.
We grew up within this status quo paradigm where the truth, accuracy or ethicality of much of what we believe - which we treat as both granted and trivial - has been thrust upon us as undeniable facts about reality. We rarely, if ever, question the status quo, so it goes along unchecked, and we, thus, prime ourselves for exploitation, manipulation and abuse.
By becoming conscious (and conscientious) participants in our lives, demanding empirical evidence for claims made and engaging with reality through reason and rationality, we can finally reclaim control and start acting in our own best interests.
This predicament/state of affairs affects introverted, shy, agreeable, kind and compassionate people, but we are all susceptible to simply buying all the bullshit society feeds us… because it is socially acceptable, has always been done ‘a certain way’, or is merely convenient, easy and pleasurable.
What I’m advocating for here is not ‘conspiracist thinking’, cynicism, or becoming a contrarian. In fact, these things are, themselves, a major problem in society.
What I am advocating for is:
prioritising independent thought;
injecting a healthy dose of scepticism in everything we see, hear or encounter;
seeking out information, which both exists and is freely available to anyone willing to look for it, yet has been overlooked because it exposes inconvenient truths, highlights frightening facts, and/or requires painful change;
relying on peer-reviewed science;
rejecting ignorance, fallacious reasoning/arguments, and unfalsifiable claims; and
conducting proper due diligence before embarking on a course of action or making decisions that’ll have a profound and far-reaching impact on our lives.
Stop accepting things for as they are, and start fighting for things because they are both good and true!
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Please Support My Work On Patreon 💫
If you enjoy my content, please consider showing me some love by becoming a patron. Living in South Africa, I don’t have the option to place some of my content on Substack behind a paywall (since Stripe isn’t available in my region). Therefore, all content here is absolutely free. However, I will be publishing exclusive content over on Patreon, so if you want access to everything I write or share, it’s all over there on that platform (for now). Any contribution is welcome, greatly appreciated and really goes a long way to helping me make a living from creating and sharing content - something which I love to do, and would continue to do even if I was out on the streets (although I’d prefer that this didn’t happen 🥺). Whether you decide to make a contribution or not, I will do my utmost to provide value in everything I do, and I appreciate all your support (in whatever form that may be). From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
Where You Can Find Me…
I’m available on all the social platforms that I can think of:
Newsletter | Instagram | Twitter | Revue | Medium | Substack | Facebook | LinkedIn | TikTok | SnapChat
For exclusively personal development advice, please follow The Public Server:
Pinterest | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Instagram | Twitter | WhatsApp
My Most Important Links:
The Public Server:
The ‘How to Lose Friends & Upset People’ Newsletter & eBook;
The ‘Sceptic’s Guide to Escaping Bullshit’ Newsletter & eBook;
The ‘Straight Until Proven Gay’ Newsletter & eBook;
The ‘For the Love of Animals’ Newsletter & eBook;
The ‘Just Getting Started’ Confidence Kickstarter Email Course;
The ‘Introvert’s Guide to Escaping Mediocrity’ - a 5-day Motivation Bootcamp Email Series;
The ‘Get Active’ Newsletter & Courses (‘The Compound Movement’ & ‘Operation Reset’);
The ‘Blogging for Confidence’ Course (Coming Soon).
