How Not to Deliver Your Manifesto

Choosing your point over your partner.

Often when I’m counseling troubled couples, the trouble is caused by the way they’re trying to deliver their manifestos.

I’m talking about a manifesto like the one written by Luigi Mangione, the guy charged with killing United Health’s CEO, Brian Thompson. He was found with a 262-word handwritten statement, which read:

…these parasites simply had it coming… these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allwed [sic] them to get away with it.

I gotta say I agree with his assessment of the health insurance industry and the American political establishment, if not the public. I have a problem with his delivery. He apparently thought if he shot the CEO, people would read his manifesto and take its message seriously. He was partly right. People can read his manifesto; but he discredited himself by the way he chose to deliver it. Consequently, it won’t be taken seriously. If found guilty, he’ll just be seen as a crazed terrorist who should be locked up. The thing is, if found guilty, he will be a crazed terrorist who should be locked up; but his manifesto should be taken seriously.