Both can be true at once, right? Some folks need more carrot, some need more stick. I don’t know the actors in this play, but I assume Linus (who presumably do

Both can be true at once, right? Some folks need more carrot, some need more stick. I don’t know the actors in this play, but I assume Linus (who presumably does have a mental map for these actors) is choosing to strike a tone which gets the message across without causing lasting damage. Perhaps GP carries with them Linus’ priors resulting in a different reading of this specific message.