I'm the Aggressor

Real quick blog posting before I go to sleep, something just came to mind. In my communication class today we were divided into groups and given a hypothetical situation to work out. Our group would play the role of a medical team with five kidney machines and eight people who required them, essentially meaning that we would kill three to save five. Each patient was given a back story, which basically amounted to a list of pros and cons for keeping them alive or letting them die. To add to this, a couple people in each group were given a counter productive role to act out in the group to impede the progress. Of course, introverted, incredibly untalkative me was "randomly" given the role of "aggressor," the person who basically shoots everyone's ideas down, pushes their own, and is incredibly sarcastic. This was funny to me since it is so unlike my real nature, but I decided to go with it the best way I knew how. A problem with this whole situation was that the room was so loud that no one could hear half of my insulting comments or snarky remarks, which diminished my effectiveness as the jerk that holds a decision process up for their own benefit. Kind of takes away from what I was trying to do. The other, probably larger, problem that existed was every time I talked over someone or threw out my own idea, the group tended to like my ideas. Again, hard to be aggressive when what you are saying is either the right answer or the most agreeable one. In the end, I pretty much failed my role as aggressor, but having this mindset did allow me to step away from myself without fear of coming off as a jerk, so it actually helped my participation. So take note, kids, if you are feeling shy or nervous, act like a complete tool. It kind of balances things out.