Left-handed
In another favorite Dilbert cartoon, a character compliments another by saying that he admires the fact that she values performance over appearance. This is a left-handed compliment, a hidden insult combined with a compliment. The real message is poor appearance. Thinking about this started me thinking about "left-handed" as a term of opproprium. Other words in the English language are critical of left-handers: For example, sinister, from a Latin word for left, means evil, and gauche, from the French for left, means crude or graceless. To many people, being left-handed means being wrong.
I'm left-handed and use of such words hurts my feelings. Similarly, although more subtly, the difficulties of using tools designed for right-handed people leave the same message. It's another way that many people express their belief that to be left-handed is wrong. I've become somewhat ambidextrous as a result and that's not entirely a bad thing. And I've come to know that many famous, successful people are also left-handed so there's some encouragement in that. But what is it about being left-handed that bothers people, that creates this bias against the left-handed?
I think it's the same thing that creates other, more serious biases. First. many people fear anything different, anything that is not like them. I can't find any rational reason to discriminate against left-handers; so far as I know, there's no evil or criminal gene lurking within left-handers. Being left-handed doesn't hurt anyone. To generalize from the specific, it has to be some irrational fear that leads to this kind of bias. Second, people find something to disparage in a member of a group and assume that every member of the group is the same. Some left-handers are probably wrong so people assume that we're all wrong.
To think that we must fear people who are different is silly and, whether based on race, gender, left-handedness or some other difference, discrimination against groups of people is silly. The implicit belief that every member of some group is identical to all members, that because there might be one member of the group we dislike we must dislike the whole group is silly. And that's the important thing to think about when we think about what it means to be left-handed: If differences aren't hurting us why do we fear them? Wouldn't it be better to accept differences and, even, value them? Similarly, wouldn't it be better to deal with people as individuals rather than as part of groups?
Don't fear differences. Treat people as they deserve based on their own conduct, not as members of some group to be feared. You might even make a new left-handed friend.
5-2-05
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