Zayde did something evil this week in his class in Oakes Elementary in Okemah, Oklahoma. He wrote with his left-hand. That prompted a teacher to explain that the left hand was “bad” and should not be used. When his mother wrote to inquire, the teacher sent an article explaining how the left hand is associated with the devil and is deemed evil. Of course, a few left handers who seemed to do all right range from Alexander the Great to President Obama.
Zayde is in Pre-K and learning to write. The teacher sent an article that explained how the left hand is deemed “unlucky,” “evil,” and “sinister.” It also noted that the devil is often portrayed as left-handed.” Indeed, while not mentioned in the article, historical figures like Joan of Arc were portrayed as left-handed to make them look more evil (though it is not clear which was her dominant hand).
Reporters were unable to speak with the Superintendent and the principal of Oakes Elementary would only say that she is aware of the situation and “hung up before we could ask any questions.”
Just for the record, here are a few of those left-handers in history:
Lloque Yapanqui Inca monarch
Ramses II, Egyptian pharaoh
Tiberius, Roman emperor
Alexander the Great
Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor
Julius Caesar, Roman general
Napoléon Bonaparte, French emperor
Josephine de Beauharnais
King Louis XVI of France
Queen Victoria of England
King George II of England
King George VI of England
Prince Charles of England
Prince William of England
Fidel Castro, Cuban leader
Benjamin Franklin
James A. Garfield
Herbert Hoover
Harry S. Truman
Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Barack Obama
Trope,
Regarding violins, the left hand does the difficult fine-motor motions. A left-handed friend who plays the violin felt he had an advantage because his dominant hand could play intricate parts with ease. The bow hand, while some subtlety is needed, does not require fine motor control to the same degree; it is the elbow, wrist, and shoulder that do most of the work.
Interestingly, Rosetti would paint another rendition of Joan of Arc that is a mirror image of this one, instead with the right hand at the hilt.
This list leaves off the Roman Emperor Commodus
So, we better keep the Pope away from all children? What hatred and anti-religion bigotry on display. Or is it just hypocrisy? Let’s see!
Good one, Fiver.
Ambidextrous people have been lumped in with the frogs and salamanders.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHAdzhLUYAAc-AS.jpg
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/ben-carson-big-bang-a-fairy-tale-theory-of-evolution-encoura#.itYLDxGJJ
And then you have Ben Carson.
“Ben Carson: Big Bang A Fairy Tale, Theory Of Evolution Encouraged By The Devil
“I personally believe that this theory that Darwin came up with was something that was encouraged by the adversary, and it has become what is scientifically, politically correct.”
In a speech delivered in 2012, Ben Carson said the big bang theory was part of the “fairy tales” pushed by “high-faluting scientists” as a story of creation.”
What about ambidextrous people?
Cool, Paul. Writing was never a problem for me, other than the inevitable smudges that came with pushing hand across page through the ink. However, pushing slightly downward across page would tire my hand, so I was never a long essay writer. Then I met the word processor. Things have been much better since.
What really hurt was Arts and Crafts and those damn scissors.
Mostly I just kid about it, but I do wonder if these small trials and tribulations make lefties more adaptable and creative.
Trope-a-dope – I learned to curve my hand so the fingers were above the words I was writing. Those damn scissors were not made for right-handed people either. The best part of Arts and Crafts was eating the paste. 🙂
Prejudice against southpaws:
scissors
can openers
writing left to right
fountain pens
guitars/violins/etc
jar lids
eating next to a damn right-hander
many school desks
To name a few.
But all of this just makes us lefties more adaptable and creative than you right-handed slugs.
Trope-a-dope – I remember the thrill of picking out my first fountain pen for school. The way my school worked there was a left-handed kid seated across from me in most classes. I thought the way he wrote was so cool that I learned to write right-handed using a left-handed style.
This was very common in school when I was growing up.
http://fallibleblogma.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-shot-2012-10-24-at-2.23.52-PM-540×245.png
This is what happens when regressive religious nuts are allowed to get near children. Is this one of the state’s that wants to make the Bible it’s state book?
“Just for the record, here are a few of those “evil” left-handers in history:
Lloque Yapanqui Inca monarch
Ramses II, Egyptian pharaoh
Tiberius, Roman emperor
Alexander the Great
Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor
Julius Caesar, Roman general
Napoléon Bonaparte, French emperor
Josephine de Beauharnais
King Louis XVI of France
Queen Victoria of England
King George II of England
King George VI of England
Prince Charles of England
Prince William of England
Fidel Castro, Cuban leader
Benjamin Franklin
James A. Garfield
Herbert Hoover
Harry S. Truman
Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Barack Obama”
The majority of leaders in this list killed thousands of people if not millions.
The “public interest” professor puts evil in quotes.
I’m not as superstitious as the teacher, but not as respected by academics as JT.
Tips and tricks. Leonardo da Vinci was left handed and also wrote notes in reverse. 2 possible reasons:
• He was trying to make it harder for people to read his notes and steal his ideas.
• He was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic Church, whose teachings sometimes disagreed with what Leonardo observed.
Then there is the charming theory that left handed people started out as twins and the right handed twin didn’t survive in the womb. 🙂 Sort of mirrors of each other.
From an old Time Magazine article
It is a well-known fact that usually one of two identical twins is left-handed while the other one is righthanded. It is well known also that there are many more left-handed persons who never had any twin.
“We may, therefore, either assume that there are two entirely different kinds of left-handedness with two entirely different causes or that all the left-handed people are—originally—twins. The other twin may have died in infancy or may have been still born.
“In the latter case the mother will often not even have knowledge of the fact that she ought to have had twins. We have evidence, however, that in many more cases the twin has died during the earliest stages of his embryonic life. . . .
oooooooh Twilight zone time….do de do da do de do da
Seriously, this teacher should NOT be allowed near children with this medieval type of attitude.
I agree with fiver. But, dogs have four paws and each are different. Hitler was a dog in a prior life and lost both left paws, front and back, in a train accident. He was renamed “RightyRighty”. When he was a bad dog and reincarnated as a human he kept some of his habits. He collected habits from nuns when he was a young child getting rear ended by a Pedophile Priest in Austria.
Science has shown that our bodies are controlled by the laterally opposite sides of our brain. In other words, left handed people are the only ones in their right minds.
Tin Ear, the latest stats are ~10% of people are lefties. But, in many countries, the tactic of breeding “gauche” out of people is still the norm. Some think when that prejudice is done away w/, the % will maybe double to the 20 percentile.
I read somewhere that 4% of the population is left-handed, but 70% of lawyers are lefties…..