But with patience and the promise of anonymity, raw resentments emerge.
Alinsky believed it was necessary to "rub raw the resentments of the people in the community".
"Because if you have basic constitutional unfairness like we've had, if you have the people in one part of the UK feeling like they are getting a raw deal, then resentment festers, and that undermines the bonds and the fellow-feeling that are the basis of the United Kingdom".
China's voracious demand for raw materials has fuelled resentment in Burma towards its giant northern neighbour.
In South Korea, resentment remains raw over Japan's brutal early 20th-century colonization, while many Japanese have a deep phobia of military action abroad because of their nation's devastating defeat in World War II.
Sometimes, the resentment can seem raw and familiar.
Find something in the political environment that's important, and not necessarily obvious, then proceed to rub that wound raw, tapping into the underlying resentment and anger of the electorate, channeling it against the opponent and for one's candidate.
Unlike in Europe, where bad wartime memories have given way to binding economic, political and military alliances between former enemies, in East Asia resentments have been kept deliberately raw.
When I think about his going to Iraq, my old doubts and resentments bubble up, surprisingly fresh and raw.
