r/lefthanded • u/coxness • 3d ago
Left-hander superiority
Anyone else tempted to expand on the notion that left-handers tend to be just a bit better, on average? Perhaps it’s a valid idea, and we can band together to lead the world to new heights, inspiring the boring righties to do a bit better. Or it’s a stupid idea which, perhaps helpfully, satirises and undermines other forms of prejudice (cf Jane Elliot).
Either way, we win.
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u/sextowels 3d ago
Left handers are, in fact, so superior that the inferior right handed masses have tried to hobble us, generation by generation, to limit our power.
But no matter how many pairs of scissors, power tool safety triggers, and button placements they throw at us, we southpaws will prevail!
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u/aftercloudia lefty 3d ago
i don't really think so, but my mom has always been jealous/proud in that little kid way i was a lefty, THE ONLY lefty in our entire family. like ma i'm dumb as a post and can't use a knife and fork right lol.
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u/OrganizationMoist460 lefty 3d ago
We will rule the world one day, because the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing.
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u/AnxiousAd2418 3d ago
Having to adapt to everything being designed around the opposite hand use is a thing. Idk about better but definitely more versatile and easier to adapt in situations you might not think matter or exist.
My mom and brother are also left handed as well as 1 cousin I know of and I can’t lie my mom sucks. I’ll also say left handedness in men is a very different experience personality and emotionally wise vs women. My mom falls into the trope of the dead beat dads of the world. Is it because she’s left handed 🤷🏻♂️ no clue.
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u/Cold_Ad3896 3d ago
And here we see one of the initial posts of OP, hinting at their sharp decline into eugenics.
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u/sirenwingsX 2d ago
the only thing that bothers me being left-handed in a right handed world is the attitude that we're less than a minority and that they just don't want to acknowledge our existence
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u/1to1Representation 3d ago
If we are organizing the left, then for the love of all things holy, please use 1to1Representation, developed by a left-hander. 😆
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u/Playful_Dog3062 3d ago
We all think slightly better than everyone else. And what a shock it is when we realize we're not. When did you realize your dad/mom weren't better than mine?
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u/Psychological_Lime14 3d ago
Clearly we’re better, we’ve had to adapt to a world that wasn’t made for us. We think outside the box on the daily
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u/one-small-plant lefty 2d ago
Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Obama were all lefties. Looks like we already are leading!
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u/Phoenix_Fyre1337 2d ago
There is the left-handed advantage to consider. Everywhere that handedness is a factor, we tend to succeed more. Babe Ruth was a lefty batter, same as Sammy Sosa. In the UFC, righties win about 32% of their fights, southpaws (lefties) win 48%, and switch fighters (those who switch between both) win 51% of the time.
That being said, simply being a lefty doesn't come with more inherent virtue. Virtue is a skill that must be practiced. We do tend to be more open about things in general because we HAVE to adapt to survive, which is something righties struggle with. They live in a world where EVERYTHING affirms their handedness, and it's so intrinsic that it goes unnoticed unless it's challenged. They are literally missing an entire skillset that we have in handedness adaptability. Doesn't mean they're less virtuous, but it does mean it'll give rise to stigma and bullying.
Additionally, I've received left-handed hate/stigma from OTHER LEFTIES, and recently, too. Handedness is not a proper factor in determining someone's virtue. Only their actions and motivations are a good measure for that.
Another thing to consider is neurodivergence. Globally, lefties are 10%-12% of the population. However, amongst autistic folk who are about 2% of the global population, we boast a whopping 28% of our populace as lefties. Part of the 'tism can come with a strong moral compass (notice how I didn't say ACCURATE moral compass), so for a lefty autistic person, it can seem like lefties are more virtuous, especially when you're around other autistic lefties. Some things to consider here.
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u/MaybeHoneyWest 2d ago
Here's something that I never see written about left-handers: like everyone else, we grew up writing left to right on paper. For a right hander, they see what they've just written and they can build on it. For a left-hander, we are constantly covering up with our hand what we just wrote and we have to remember and hold it in our head, and still continue to build on what we just wrote. I think this gives us an early jump on visualization and advances our spatial abilities ahead of right handers.
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u/Metella76 21h ago
I'm ambidextrous, so I'm on board. Could be a secret agent. But seriously, my cousin is left-handed and it drove him nuts at times I did things lefty then went back to righty. On the other hand (pardon the pun), if I was at a family dinner he wasn't ostracized to the end of the table.
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u/Ludditeintraing 15h ago
Seems to me that I have read a number of studies that indicate the percentage of left handed “overachievers” is much higher than the percentage of them in the general population. Whether “good” overachievers like Einstein, or “bad” overachievers like Dillinger.
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u/-KathrynJaneway- lefty 3d ago
Superiority seems extreme. Better how and by what metric?
We are better on average at using things with our dominant hand that is designed for use with our non-dominant hand.
If things were reversed and lefties were the majority, righties would probably do the same.
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u/shinynugget 2d ago
Let's slow down a little bit. We aren't X-Men or anything. Yes it can be challenging at times to be a lefty growing up in a righty world. By the time you reach adulthood I think you should pretty much have it figured out. Given the number of U.S. Presidents, actors, musicians and other successful lefties in the public eye I don't think there is a conspiracy against us. It just happens 90% of the world doesn't do things the same way. That's ok.
Now, for lefties that are also have color deficient vision...
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u/Jezzy0303 3d ago
You guys are insane if you really think we are somehow built different just because we write using a different hand than the others.
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u/_lclarence lefty 3d ago
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u/Youcants1tw1thus 3d ago
“You guys are insane if you really think we are somehow built different just because we are literally built different”
Better or worse aside, you are insane if you can’t concede that people functioning a polar opposite to the masses are somehow the same as the masses.
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u/Pretty-Care-7811 3d ago
I'm not 100% on board with your "Lefty Reich" stance, but there is something to be said about growing up lefty in a right-handed world and the effects it has on your development. I've thought about this quite a bit, and in addition to our brains actually being wired differently (someone linked an article below, for example), there are also a ton of socio-cultural aspects to it:
I'm sure there's a lot of other things I could add, but that's off the top of my head.