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Your article reminds me of a man I once knew, whom I came to call "Slander Fu" because of his Jedi-like ability to deliver the one insult that would break his target.
To one woman at a party he said: "Charlene, you're the reason some animals eat their young." Not a nice comment, but not particularly terrible, nor even very logical...but it somehow found the resonant frequency of her every insecurity, and she was reduced to tears in a back room for an hour until she finally fled the party, disconsolate.
To another, he made a comment about the man's "algae-covered teeth". This man was articulate and educated, but sensitive about his humble beginnings, which were reflected in his dentition. Here at least I could see the connection between the insult and the reaction, which landed both Slander Fu and Algae Teeth in the pokey for mutual assault.
I choose to forget what Slander Fu said to me, but as Jeeves said once in a parallel circumstance, "it was opprobrious". I didn't show any outward sign of collapse, having been a careful observer of his ways for some time, but I had a rough night of it. I think of his words still, and I flush with anger when I do so.
Eventually he lost his edge. Soft living? A new girlfriend? I'm not sure. Something took Slander Fu's supernatural ability away, maybe. Or maybe he learned the last lesson of mastery: how not to use his ability.
