After reading all these war stories from Pieter I'm definitely going to weigh his book on the subject of psychopaths far higher than any controlled experiment psychology BS (those guys can't even reproduce their results most of the time.)
There is no silver bullet in social interactions either.
Or perhaps the ideals fail and you just need to bare your teeth at them. But return to civility; no reason to senselessly burn bridges. (What if they're just horrible? Then leave. What if you just can't walk away quietly? Well, just try not to burn bridges as a first resort, at least not while you're standing on it ;)
To me it means to try not to act out of malice, hurt, or anger towards others, even when they seem to be acting that way towards you. You can calmly and rationally explain your position, and hold firm, while trying to avoid negative emotions. Easier said than done, but it can be incredibly powerful.