The word “attack” has multiple meanings in common parlance: It can mean (#1) a act defined as FACT, in history or law, but it can also be a (#2) a subjective interpretation of individual experience … a description of one person’s thinking and emotional reaction to the behavior of another person.
And evolution has conditioned all of our brains to perform #2 constantly based on our developmental history. You can read more about this phenomena in my answer about defensiveness.
In case #2, this is often nothing more than opinion, projection or [defensiveness](https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-have-defense-mechanisms-when-there-is-nothing-to-be-defensive-about/answer/Dewey-Gaedcke-1 “www.quora.com”) … to find out, check if the opinion contains any concrete evidence that would logically or legally qualify the use of the term “attack”. The scientific method was designed to help us separate our decision making & fact finding from these mental distortions.
Responding to the spirit of your question, I believe that, more generally, you are asking about why humans become triggered. Why do some ideas, claims, or personality quirks activate us emotionally and cause us to act out in relation to other people.
And the process behind getting triggered is called [homeostasis preservation](https://www.quora.com/search?q=homeostasis%20preservation&author=84795924 “www.quora.com”). Another evolution-built process that (unconsciously) seeks to preserve stability of identity and worldview. I’ve written extensively about how it works in these answers.
https://www.quora.com/search?q=homeostasis%20preservation&author=84795924