This is exactly what is happening here. You cannot expect people to give in once you start pushing. There was an episode of STTNG that had a profound effect on

This is exactly what is happening here. You cannot expect people to give in once you start pushing. There was an episode of STTNG that had a profound effect on me as a kid as a metaphor for confrontation, where the crew of a destroyed ship kept saying "more power to the shields" when the "shields" were actually causing the problem.