Anecdote on dominance

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So this is just a small episode from something I experienced just yesterday.

I quite often visit Indonesia-related events etc., and yesterday I was at a little local meeting of Dutch Indonesians (kind of small weekly social call), and today there was this man who runs an online radio station. And it turns out he's very opinionated, and I use 'opinionated' as a euphemism here. He had a couple of preconceptions that are quite jarring, also about the Indonesian Dutch community and what we are 'supposed to be like', some of which obviously doesn't apply to everyone. It was a strange experience, and I thought many of his opinions rigid and poorly-founded.

But that's not the meat of this post. Now that I've been thinking about that evening a little bit more, I find that I experienced quite strongly a certain overbearingness from that man. In fact, while we were in the same room and he was talking, I couldn't help but feel a pressure on my body and I was actually physically shivering. I have had that response with other people only a couple of times, but usually it was because the other party somehow gave me a scary or freaky vibe. But here, it was something well beyond that. It was more obviously a social thing. During the conversation, I attempted sometimes to counter on the points that I disagreed with, with my own logical reasoning, but the man would immediately brush that away dismissively. I believe that this man, despite his preconceptions, has quite an adeptness at reading the social situation around him, taking advantage of that, and establishing himself.
Although I have been making progress in social interactions in recent years, I was unprepared for this situation. I am thinking to myself that my own lack of self-confidence, and my tendency to approach others in a kind of bashful way, played into my interaction with this man- and that fortifying my own self-assuredness would help avert that I'll be thrown for such a loop again in the future.

Any thoughts on this, or perhapsa stories of your own that tie into this (the notion of dominant or overbearing people)?

The guy sounds like a bit of an ass. Don't look for fault in yourself when it's the other person who has the problem.

That's the impression I got, though I don't want to phrase it that strongly. It's not that I blame myself in this situation, as much as it is my surprise at his overbearingness- both verbal and non-verbal.
People having a rigid opinion is something I've seen before and can handle. With this guy, there was a factor of turning the conversation, and the general atmosphere of the interaction, in his favour. Almost as if it were a struggle.

Some people do seem to view conversation as a battleground. It can be quite disconcerting to have to deal with such a person. I try not to engage them. If someone is making me feel bad about myself I stay away from them. If I'm forced to deal with them for some reason, I would probably play into their conception of themselves and be manipulative.