The screaming part was my favorite. It got a lot of my cramped feelings out.

I'm afraid my automatic reaction to someone yelling at me to do something is to defy them

Even if you want to do the thing they're exhorting you to do? Isn't that a bit self-defeating?

Even if you want to do the thing they're exhorting you to do? Isn't that a bit self-defeating?

Probably. But I don't believe yelling at people is conducive to cooperation. It's a personal thing.

Yes. Hence the fun of "authority issues".

I don't believe yelling at people is conducive to cooperation

What's a good way to get you fired up and to push past your pre-conceived definitions of your limits? What pumps you up in a group setting like that?

I don't yell at people because of an authority thing. I feel I have just as much authority (often more) when I'm talking quietly. But to infect them with energy, I've not found anything to compare with yelling myself -- because they need to yell too, and I have to set an energetic example.

Do as I do, and as I say -- that sort of thing.

Yelling, in my mind, equates to the person doing the yelling having no respect for the recipient. If the yeller believed the person was capable of doing whatever was being asked, then there would be no need to bring verbal violence into the situation. Either the yeller holds the recipient in contempt or the yeller feels he's at a disadvantage that can only be compensated with verbal violence.

What's a good way to get you fired up and to push past your pre-conceived definitions of your limits?

Tell me what's in it for me. Appeal to my reason. Emotional appeals and cheerleading make me suspicious.

The screaming part was my favorite. It got a lot of my cramped feelings out.

In the past, I've gotten my cramped feelings out by arguing in my head...the one place where I'm perfectly clever, perfectly cunning and perfectly right.

Being afraid of krav!screaming reminds me of one of my favorite lines in Lost Boys where the Frog brothers react to their first real vamp killing mission. "Yeah, but before, they didn't open their eyes and talk!"

People hitting back will be a new adventure.

Well, yelling at is different from yelling in a cheerleady kind of way. I know in getting people pumped up, yelling can make people feel better and more excited. "You can do it! Jump! Yes! Come on! Terrific!" It's very hard to get the energy up in a room with a modulated voice.

there would be no need to bring verbal violence into the situation

Aimee -- back me up on this -- verbal violence wasn't present in the Sunday class, was it?

That's not the only reason or method to yell, in my book. I'm yelling a) to make myself heard over chatter b) getting all eyes front right away c) as a cheer.

If I have to tell people to bring their left hand over here, and their right over there, I don't yell unless it's the umpteenth time, and they're still doing it without energy. Even then, there's not an ounce of contempt, and no feeling of disadvantage on my part.

I'm sorry that you've had such horrible yellers in your past. It sounds awful.