A sort of Harry Potter meets Woody Allen, his dishevelled shock of curly black hair, round plastic glasses and navy woollen jumper suggest an affable academic rather than the sort of man to provoke postbags of hate mail.
It is always bracing to find a pop pretender who can talk a good fight, better still when the records he makes look set to provoke love and hate in equal measure.
He revolutionized the concept of the book by detaching it from its purely literary conventions and concentrating on the ways in which books provoke love and hate in the social milieu by their very existence.
Hence, the collective oscillation that is finding beauty alluring, then hating ourselves for doing so – albeit not quite so much as we hate the beautiful object for provoking such fascination.
While those whom Hillary Clinton likes and respects are unlikely ever to feel her disdain, even her close friends concede that she has a temper they would hate to provoke.
Equally troubling is that much of this abuse came from the followers of a GMC-registered doctor, Dr Christian Jessen, who tweeted, "this is a new low, even for her" to his 300,000 fans in reaction to the news; then retweeted a comment that "She is a vile human being," before advising "I WOULD LEAVE IT JOSIE, REALLY" when she complained about the avalanche of hate this provoked.
The Canadian Council of Muslim women say the hysteria over the niqab, specifically the ban, "provokes, exploits, and sustains hate and fear," and puts Muslim women in the "cross-hairs".
At its best, this makes for much entertainingly abrasive drama as the rivals' love-hate relationship provokes sparky interaction at pre-race meetings (another flag wave to Senna) and social gatherings alike.
In many places, the anniversary of a near-homicidal hate crime might provoke bouts of soul-searching.
"Freedom of speech is one thing, but usage of your freedom should not be to offend others or advocate hate speech or provoke people to violence," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said an interview with The Huffington Post.
