Stand Up For Your Rights

[Chris Timson]

Musicians, however, being in a liminal creative category akin to shamans, are permitted and indeed encouraged to use both hands at the same time to create their magic

Thank you. May I quote you on that?

 

Chris

[bill_mchale]

I suspect that handedness is largely constructed by culture, and has a lot to do with curious prehistoric toilet taboos, being the reason the left hand is called "sinister."

Just the opposite. Handedness is natural and physiological and has been associated with differences in the brain. At least some other primates (apes , monkeys, etc.) also display preferential handedness, though for some species left-handedness is most common.

 

I agree, in general, I suspect most of our ancestors probably used their dominant hand for toilet business. The whole point of handedness is that it is the hand we naturally choose to use for one handed activities. Thus even though my Dad was converted when he was a kid so that he writes right handed, he still holds a hammer or a drill with his left hand. Of course the reason that we shake hands with our right hands, if the commonly accepted theory is correct, is that that was the hand that was used to hold a weapon. By shaking hands you are showing that you are unarmed.

 

What some human cultures have done is use xenophobia to assign social value to handedness via the following "logic":

... Left-handedness is uncommon.

... Uncommon is "different".

... Different is bad.

... Therefore, left-handedness is bad.

 

Some cultures then restrict the use of the left hand to tasks which are themselves viewed as "bad", "dirty", or "evil". (So why aren't people required to play bodhran and banjo with their left hands? )

 

Hmmm, can't seem to find a flaw in the above logic.. guess lefties are evil after all .

 

--

Bill

[JimLucas]

What some human cultures have done is use xenophobia to assign social value to handedness via the following "logic":

... Left-handedness is uncommon.

... Uncommon is "different".

... Different is bad.

... Therefore, left-handedness is bad.

 

Some cultures then restrict the use of the left hand to tasks which are themselves viewed as "bad", "dirty", or "evil". (So why aren't people required to play bodhran and banjo with their left hands? unsure.gif)

Hmmm, can't seem to find a flaw in the above logic.. guess lefties are evil after all wink.gif.

Actually, the logic is correct, logic being a method of reasoning for drawing conclusions from assumptions. What is incorrect is the assumption that "different is bad".

 

Similarly, if you assume that cyanide is food and that eating food will not harm you, then logic would conclude that eating cyanide won't harm you. But because that first assumption is false, you might not live to regret trying to demonstrate the "truth" of the conclusion.

[PeterT]

At least some other primates (apes , monkeys, etc.) also display preferential handedness, though for some species left-handedness is most common.

My mother has a left-handed (pawed?) cat. Of all the cats she has had over the last 50 years (sample of seven), this is the only one to display that preference.

 

The cat's sister does not appear to favour either paw, and the two are totally different in temperament; aged 14, one was charging up and down a tree last night (more like a monkey, especially when swinging on the branches), whilst the other prefers to sit quietly, and jump on mice! The mouser is the left-handed cat.

[David Barnert]

All these years... I think I've been wiping with the wrong hand.

 

Of course all this has become much less of an issue since the invention of soap.