The radical’s method of personalizing the general is effective for three reasons: first, it distracts the retrograde and the audience (if done in a public debate) from the retrograde’s thread of thought; second, it steals the initiative from the retrograde, putting him on the defensive and making him feel as if he must reassure the radical that he bears him no personal animus; third, it manipulates the audience, making them feel sympathetic to the radical’s untenable belief out of pity for his condition.
