The question on my mind as of late: Is there a difference between competition and aggression? In my class on Thursday, we were assigned partners and were asked to carry on a discussion prompted by a list of questions. One of them asked about anger. What makes you angry? Are you a competitive person? Do you get aggressive? What do you think you have a right to be angrey about? My partner and I discussed competition and aggression and we didn't reach a conclusion.
I consider myself to be a very competitive person, but I don't think of myself as aggressive. I won't fight others tooth and nail to win. I won't get petty or play games underhandedly just to get the advantage. I like competition, I like to win. But I don't think I'm aggressive about it.
Is aggression negative? Is competition negative? Is one more negative than the other? I tend to think of aggression in a negative light, but when you hear a parent say "He's an aggressive player" doesn't that sound like a compliment? Anyone have any light to shed on the subject?
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3 comments:
From a sports world perspective I see competition and agression as the same thing. Those who play sports competively play agressively. In sports I don't think either is negative. I'll leave the nonsports perspective for someone else to discuss
I once heard a lecture from an Institute teacher where he said that competition of any kind was bad/wrong. I think in a perfect world that is true but we are far from perfect and as a capitalist, I believe in competition...minus aggression.
I feel that people a lot of feel that they're the same thing, but I don't agree. For example, I can be VERY competitive in the world of scholarly discussion. A lot of times, people will start to worry that my feelings are getting hurt. But they aren't. I'm just like that. People this is like sort of my sport. You get competitive on the playing field, I get competitive in the English classroom when people hold that moral relativism is okay or that society removes freedom.
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