Taran AM’s Reviews > Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life > Status Update

… claim that you have to get your own stuff in order before making any claims about the greater world. I think this is hilariously hypocritical following his proof of how unwell he’s been but also seems to imply that those who are not provided for by a system should have no say in how that system ought to change. Maybe I am misunderstanding his claim but as I understand it, he is saying that if you are not ‘put together’ enough (to some arbitrary degree) then your opinions are null.

If the bar of general put-togetherness is set to the degree of being mentally stable enough to have a cohesive and accurate understanding of the greater world then you can claim anyone below this bar lacks the abilities required to make meaningful claims about anything really (which could still be disputed) but he sets the bar way higher. In the example he provides with his own niece, he discounts her opinions in entirety because her life is not put together enough (for his standard) and because she is depressed.

So, when it comes to the question of how we could make the world a better place, only those who are well off should have a say. This view ignores the connection between the group of ‘those who a system is set up to support’ and ‘those who are well off’, implying that those who are doing well are doing well because of idk innate virtue of knowledge rather than being supported by the system. This leads to the only people who have a say in how a system ought to be set up being those who are most supported by it.