Listen Now: Dan Taberski’s Manifesto

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dying For Sex — "Listen Now: Dan Taberski’s Manifesto"

Host: Dan Taberski
Date: July 13, 2026
Podcast: Audible Originals x Please and Thanks Productions
Episode Featured: Manifesto (Clip)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Dying For Sex features a special preview of Dan Taberski’s podcast Manifesto. Taberski, known for Hysterical and Missing Richard Simmons, embarks on a journey to reclaim the concept of the "manifesto" from its dark, modern associations with mass shooters and nihilists. Instead, Taberski seeks to explore and celebrate the role manifestos have played in art, activism, and change-making, while interrogating the delicate balance between productive rage and destructive anger. The preview sets the tone for his six-part series, blending personal storytelling, true crime, history, and cultural critique.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reclaiming the Manifesto

• Main Theme: Taberski frames his series as an attempt to return the "manifesto" to artists, radicals, and visionaries—people "with just the right amount of crazy who’ve got something to say and the guts to say it."

  • "This project is my attempt to take the Manifesto back for mass shooters and nihilists and return it to its rightful place..." (Dan Taberski, 00:13)

• The idea is to explore how manifestos have served as pivotal documents of both rage and vision throughout history.

2. Personal Reflections on Rage and Activism

• Taberski reflects on his own growing anger in the face of chaotic world events, highlighting a relatable sense of being overwhelmed by the state of things.
  • "...how difficult it’s been to get a handle on how angry it has all made me. I’m not an angry person. I am a relatively happy guy, but I find myself seething underneath all the time..." (Taberski, 04:20)
• He questions how close we can get to our own rage before it becomes destructive:
  • “But the question that rises up pretty quickly: Just how cozy can we get with our rage before it takes on a life of its own?” (Taberski, 00:56)

3. Notorious Manifestos and Their Impact

• The episode uses the case of Christopher Dorner—a former LAPD officer who became a murder suspect after leaving an 11-page manifesto—as an entry point to discuss the modern notoriety of the manifesto format.
  • Dorner’s manifesto is presented as a chilling example of how manifestos have been co-opted for violence:
    • “And this manifesto on Facebook is 11 pages long... It is stunning, Shep.” (News commentary, 03:54)

4. Manifesto as Act of Disruption

• Taberski shares a small, personal act of rebellion in a supermarket—refusing to play along with the shopping cart coin system—which he likens to the "moment of liberation" that often triggers manifesto-writing.
  • “It felt like a moment of liberation.” (Interviewee, 06:16)
  • “That space right there, where emotion becomes action, when you’re inspired to just do something already. That is the stuff of manifestos.” (Taberski, 06:33)

5. Historical Manifestos and Social Change

• Taberski highlights the Black Panther Party’s “Ten Point Program,” featuring archival tape of activist Bobby Seale reading from the manifesto (circa 1968):
  • “We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people.” (Bobby Seale, 06:51)
  • “Manifestos aren’t just pretty poems. They are, in a sense, a threat. A hard packed snowball of grievance and timing and nerve and real impact...” (Taberski, 07:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• 00:13 – Dan Taberski:
  “This project is my attempt to take the Manifesto back for mass shooters and nihilists and return it to its rightful place with the artists and the warriors, the visionaries, the regular folks with just the right amount of crazy who’ve got something to say and the guts to say it.”

• 04:20 – Dan Taberski:
  "But even more concerning for me, even more surprising, has been my own reaction to it and how difficult it's been to get a handle on how angry it has all made me."

• 06:16 – Interviewee (on supermarket rebellion):
  "When I sat, I said, fuck it, I'm not gonna do this anymore, and I'm not gonna stop other people from doing it as well... it felt like a moment of liberation."

• 06:51 – Bobby Seale (Black Panther Manifesto):
  "Number seven. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people."

• 07:23 – Dan Taberski:
  "Manifestos aren’t just pretty poems. They are, in a sense, a threat. A hard packed snowball of grievance and timing and nerve and real impact, a sparking of real, honest to God, change is the longest of long shots."

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 – 01:55: Introduction by Dan Taberski; setting the stage for the purpose and tone of Manifesto.
• 01:55 – 04:08: Recounting the Christopher Dorner case and how his manifesto changed the public and police narrative.
• 04:08 – 05:34: Taberski's personal struggle with anger and the triggers that make people reach a boiling point.
• 05:34 – 06:32: Anecdote of supermarket rebellion as a micro-manifesto moment.
• 06:51 – 07:23: Audio from Bobby Seale; examination of the manifesto's power to channel societal rage and demand change.

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Overall Tone & Style

Taberski’s narration is both introspective and investigative, mingling dark humor with earnest questioning. The episode interweaves personal stories, news reporting, and archival activist audio to illustrate both the power and the potential dangers of putting rage into words. Manifesto is presented as part crime investigation, part social commentary, and is pitched to listeners who are seeking both inspiration and caution in a volatile world.

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Summary

This special episode acts as an engrossing invitation into Dan Taberski’s Manifesto series. It explores the legacy, risks, and transformative potential of manifestos—how they convert personal or collective rage into action, and why we’re drawn to them in times of crisis. Through contemporary and historical examples, Taberski sets up a deep dive into cultural, emotional, and political dimensions of these powerful declarations, leaving listeners to ponder: How can we reclaim inspiration without spiraling into destructive rage?

For listeners interested in the intersection of personal narrative, politics, and cultural history, this preview promises an engaging, thought-provoking series.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, Dan Taburski here. You might know me from podcasts like Hysterical or Missing Richard Simmons. And now my latest adventure, Dan Taburski's Manifesto. This project is my attempt to take the Manifesto back for mass shooters and nihilists and return it to its rightful place with the artists and the warriors, the visionaries, the regular folks with just the right amount of crazy who've got something to say and the guts to say it. I compare notes with radicals, secessionists and Internet trolls out for a laugh and punk singers screaming their guts out, all trying to turn their anger into the world that they want to see. And along the way I write my own manifesto about manifestos. But the question that rises up pretty quickly Just how cozy can we get with our rage before it takes on a life of its own? From Audible Originals and Please and Thanks Productions, this six part series explores the power and precariousness of the Manifesto and asks can we get inspired again and can we do it without a bullet? I'm about to play a clip from Manifesto. You can listen to Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Manifesto ad free right now. Start your Audible subscription on the Audible app or on Apple Podcasts. February 2013 Venice, California. It's my last few months in Los Angeles before I move back east. I'm in my late 30s, living by the beach, learning to surf the crumbly waves on my longboard. My skin smells like the ocean all the time. I feel amazing. I look amazing. I look amazing. But I'm not taking you back in my time machine because of how good I looked. Which was very it's because of what happened next in Southern California that cut through that dreamy scene and swapped it out with harsh reality.

[B]

Police in Irvine, California are investigating the double murder of a young couple in the parking lot of their apartment complex.

[A]

Reports of a homicide in Neighboring Orange County.

[B]

27 year old Keith Lawrence and his fiance, 28 year old Monica Kwan, were found shot to death in Lawrence's car late Sunday night.

[A]

Two young people, a couple, recently engaged. The guy was a public safety officer at USC and she was an assistant basketball coach at a local university, murdered while parked in their white Kia Optima.

[B]

Investigators do not yet have a suspect

[A]

description or motive and immediately the details of the crime begin to add up to something bigger than a one time thing, like when their bodies are found by the police. The victim's necklace is still on her neck. Her new engagement ring is still firmly on her finger. Which means this isn't a Robbery. Also, investigators find evidence of 14 shots having been fired. That's a lot of bullets for just two people cornered in their car. But the number of neighbors who actually heard those 14 shots, zero. So maybe there was a silencer on the gun, which would mean the killer probably isn't new to this, that maybe they're a professional.

[C]

Irvine detectives have been working day and night since this tragedy.

[A]

The Irvine police chief takes to the podium to tell the people of Southern California that they are going to have to buckle up for a ride today.

[C]

We have identified Christopher Dorner as a suspect in this double homicide because the

[A]

suspect, Christopher Dorner, is no ordinary suspect.

[C]

Dorner was an LAPD officer through 2009 and a reservist for the United States Navy.

[A]

Dorner is a former LAPD cop and he's still out there. And there's reason to believe that he's going to kill again, that maybe he already has. And we know this because Christopher Dorner left something behind.

[C]

A particular interest at this point in the investigation is a multi page manifesto in which the suspect has implicated himself in the slings.

[A]

And this manifesto on Facebook is 11 pages long. Trace this manifesto from this suspect who's targeting cops. It's stunning. It is stunning, Shep.

[C]

And it says he's been very well trained. You know, lapd, some of the best trained officers in the country. And I tell you, this manifesto, it

[A]

scares the hell out of me. I'm Dan Tabursky from Audible Originals and please and thanks Productions. This is Manifesto Episode 1 2America. Subject Last Resort. I am in the market for a manifesto. I have been for a while now, to be honest. The world is on fire. I'll spare you the details. We've all got our own faves and I mean, really, what fresh words could be left to describe what fresh hell we're presented with day after day? But even more concerning for me, even more surprising, has been my own reaction to it and how difficult it's been to get a handle on how angry it has all made me. I'm not an angry person. I am a relatively happy guy, but I find myself seething underneath all the time. My patience has become strained, my temper too short, my ability to hear anyone has. It happens at, of all places, a supermarket where the whole economic order is reduced down to cans on a shelf where you can buy two of crap you don't need for the price of one.

[D]

And this feeling of discontent that I've had in shopping at supermarkets, you know, for years and years before that, and being dissatisfied with the whole feeling of walking in there and having the choices that they're giving me and the way that I. It just felt like something that I don't want to do. But I kept on doing it.

[A]

He goes to grab a shopping cart. Only it's one of those setups where you got to insert a coin to get the cart, and you only get the coin back if you return the shopping cart. As if none of us can be trusted.

[D]

You know, basically, they asked me to sort of use the shopping cart, put the coin in and take the coin back and put it back to where it belongs. Then all of a sudden, there was that one moment when. When I sat, he said, fuck it, I'm not gonna do this anymore, and I'm not gonna stop other people from doing it as well.

[A]

So he takes a coin and he jams it into the slot so it won't come out. So now no one's playing the stupid shopping cart game, are they?

[D]

And it felt so good. It felt like. Like. It felt like a moment of liberation.

[B]

That.

[A]

That space right there where emotion becomes action when you're inspired to just do something already. That is the stuff of manifestos. Individuals, groups, entire swathes of society use it as the funnel to focus their erupting rage.

[E]

Number seven. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people.

[A]

This is activist Bobby Seale reading the Black Panther Manifesto in 1968. They called it the Ten Point Program.

[E]

We want all black men held in counties, states, federal jails and prisons to be released because they have not had a fair trial, because they've been tried by all white juries. And that's just like being tried in Germany, being a Jew.

[A]

Manifestos aren't just pretty poems. They are, in a sense, a threat. A hard packed snowball of grievance and timing and nerve and real impact, a sparking of real, honest to God, change is the longest of long shots. But when it happens, when a manifesto catches fire, it can change our world. It can rewrite our future. But there's a hitch. Binge all episodes of Dan Taburski's manifesto ad free right now on Audible. Start your Audible subscription in the Audible app or on Apple Podcasts.