Reminds me of something I read once. A comment from some politician. Paraphrasing his response when he was asked but it went something like this,

Nothing is more frightening than a white man. Any other race would have been quick to anger and retaliate long ago. You can poke them for quite a while and you'd be right to think they're pushovers and that would be your biggest mistake. When you finally get them mad they go full out with a resolve that will not end until you are defeated.