answer:The quick answer to your question, which is an excellent question, is that most people are simpletons, and as such cannot separate the theoretical (the abstract) from the actual. These people – the vast unwashed – do not realize that the thought process can be independent from the real events. The second factor is that many people personalize answers by applying the comment/thought to themselves. That’s not bad in and of itself. What happens, however, is that sometimes that person is threatened (or better stated: the person’s belief system is challenged, which provokes a visceral reaction), which again makes that person make the wrong assumptions. But it boils down to inability to accept abstract thought.