I agree with your point, but I think that “manipulate” needs to be tabooed. If we define manipulate as “acts that tend to change the behavior of others” then I agree with your implicit point that it is impossible to interact with others without changing their behaviors, and there is nothing wrong with thinking about how I would like someone else to behave when considering how I interact with them.
That said, there are connotations of manipulate as the word is ordinarily used that are not captured by the way you (and I) are using the word.
I agree with your point, but I think that “manipulate” needs to be tabooed. If we define manipulate as “acts that tend to change the behavior of others” then I agree with your implicit point that it is impossible to interact with others without changing their behaviors, and there is nothing wrong with thinking about how I would like someone else to behave when considering how I interact with them.
That said, there are connotations of manipulate as the word is ordinarily used that are not captured by the way you (and I) are using the word.
Sure. I’m perfectly happy to drop the word altogether and instead talk about changing the behavior of others.