Seven Days Left: Who's who, and what's what

This is the last of seven items in seven days on left handedness.

Left Handedness - Who's Who, and What's What

Who's Who

There are many lists of left handed people so I will only link to some that exist, not repeat the names here.  There is some debate about whether certain people were or weren't left handed, and I don't have the resources to confirm it either way.  And when it comes to criminals and handedness, there's far too much "He's on YOUR team!" nonsense.

RightLeftRightWrong.com: Famous Left Handers

Lefthandersday.com: Famous Left Handers

Biography.com: Famous Lefies

The Guardian: One Hundred Famous Left-Handed People

Buzzfeed.com: 60 Famous People Who Are Left Handed

One recently famous left handed person worth noting is Malala Yousafzai, the heroic Pakistani teen who won the Nobel Peace Prize and has become an advocate for women's rights around the world.  Which hand is she writing with?

What's What








There are two more important issues that I do want to focus on.

• Children face the most risk with the least support

As stated in part 2 and part 3 of this series, children are and should be the focus of this discussion.  When girls and women face sexism and harassment, they have family, school and feminist groups to speak for them or call on for support.  When people face racism, they have family, school and human rights and civil rights groups to ask for help.  When atheists and LGBTQIA people face discrimination there are voices they can call on, including and even when their family and school are part of the problem.

But who do left handed children call on for help?  In nearly all of the cases, their harassers are their own parents and family, their teachers and schools.  The very people who should be their greatest source of support are the cause of their greatest problems, not society in general.  There is no external human rights group who speaks for them. 

As I've said elsewhere, left handed people may be the least likely oppressed group to face murder and other extreme violence, and adults have the experience and resources to cope with everyday problems, even in societies that are openly against left handedness.  But when it comes to children, they are subjected to mental, emotional and even physical abuse, with no one to speak out on their behalf.  And when they call on others for help, they are often told, "Just do what others are telling you to do."

Here's a woman who got the point, who learnt from the experience living outside of a theocracy, that left handedness is perfectly normal and not to abuse her daughter because of outdated ideas.

• Left handedness is normal and natural

Left handedness has occurred thoughout human history as often and as naturally as homosexuality.  It is genetic, and any attempts to coerce or force people to change are forms of abuse.


German scientists have said unequivocally that left handedness is genetic.  However, they suggest that it is related to multiple genes, not a specific one.  They may act alone on in conjucntion with others, but regardless, they exist.  The two known genes linked to handedness and other conditions are PCSK6 and LRRTM1.

An Austrian study showed left handed children are also more likely to be gestated in the summer and born in the winter.  Another study links non-heterosexual orientation to left handness in both women and men.

• Forcing people to switch hands causes harm

Forcing left handed children to switch hands is child abuse, not "correction".  It is mentally, emotionally and physically abusive.  It causes unnecessary stress in children for valid purpose other than entrenched bigotry.

Schizophrenia is wired into the brain at birth.  Some have claimed a link between schizophrenia and left handedness.  If this is true, then it is all the more reason not to force children to switch hands.  Chronic stress is thought to be a trigger of schizophrenia, so forcing children to switch hands may only makes schizophrenia more likely to occur.  People are exacerbating the problem, not stopping it.

Some have made the ugly and unverified claim that pedophiles are more likely to be left handed.  Even if that claim had any merit, what people suggesting?  Checking foetuses for genes and aborting them?  (I disagree and would suggest being a pedophile has a lot to do with being moralizing, socially conservative zealot, especially considering the history of sex abuse among catholics, fundamentalist christians and the republican party in the US.)

Regardless of whether any of this is verified or not, studies on gay children with straight parents and children with gay parents show the way forward: leave their hands alone, support them with unconditional love and fulfil their needs.  The children who grow up the most socially well-adjusted are those who grew up in loving homes with stress-free lives.


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If you have been reading this, I thank you and hope you got something out of it.  If you have corrections or links, let me know.  If you don't consider this to be a social justice issue and/or have a bias against left handed people, tell someone who actually wants to hear it, because I don't.

Seven Days Left: Ergonomic discrimination

This is the sixth of seven items in seven days on left handedness.

Left Handedness and Ergonomic Discrimination

Ergonomic discrimination is invisible and is everywhere.  Amongst human-made things, there is not a single part of daily life that is not designed specifically for right handed people.


Stationery

• Pens

Ball point pens are designed to be pulled.  When left handed people use ball point pens, they jam while being pushed.

Many offices and places of business (e.g. banks) place pens only on the right side of the counter, with only enough slack for a right handed person to hold it.  Are they too poor to afford two pens per desk?

In countries with languages written right-to-left (e.g. arabic, hebrew), fountain pens are preferred over ball point pens, though arabic writers usually use bamboo for calligraphy.  I have encouraged several of my left handed students to start writing with fountain pens and they enjoy it.

• Rulers

Most rulers are numbered left to right, made for right handed people to draw lines and measure.  Left handed people must turn the ruler upside down or measure counting backward, increasing the chance of mistakes.  Right to left rulers are only sold online.

• Binders

Binders are agony for anyone left handed, especially for children who are forced to write with the holes on the left.  (I wrote "back to front" in my binders after teachers gave up trying.)  Most people take the paper out and write, then put it back in.

• Spiral ringed notepads

Notepads are different than binders in that they can not be used "back to front" as right handed people would call it.  They are designed so that the "back cover" cannot be turned, only the "front".  Specialized notebooks that open to the right can be purchased online, but at great expense (usually US$5-7 per 60 page book).

• Scissors

Left handed scissors are usually the most easily found in stores, though generally only children's scissors.

Scissors are designed so you can see what you are cutting - the front blade is underneath, and the back blade is behind.  When I am forced to use right handed scissors, I have to turn the blades toward my right and look down at the back side.  Very awkward.

• Clipboards

You might be tempted to say, "Where's the problem, just fold the left side behind."  And what if I want to read from papers in the left side?  Your left arm is covering them.  Take the paper out?  Then how do you protect the paper, what's the point of the left side pocket?  What if I don't want the annoyance of the pen holder under my hand?

If I had a dollar for every time someone blindly said, "Sign here" with the clipboard's clip on the left and me holding the pen in my left, I could...well, buy a new mountain bike.  Some of those who do this actually resist or get upset when I move or remove the paper so that I can write.  Why?  Clipboards aren't nailed down, and the paper can be put back.

Furniture

• School desks

Most schools, colleges and universities still purchase desks almost solely for right handed people.  If they do purchase left handed desks, it is usually an insufficient number for students' needs.

Tools and Equipment

Hammer and crowbars are likely the only hand-neutral tools.  Almost all industrial machinery is designed exclusively for the right hand.  Some examples:

• hand held tools (circular saw, chainsaws, drills)
• bench tools (drill press, planer, table saw - notice where the user stands and which direction you push?)

Even drafting tools and tables, and tape measures are almost entirely right handed.  If left handed people are forced to use equipment designed for the wrong hand, they will inevitably produce lower quality work because they cannot be as precise in their motor skills.


Electronics, Appliances and Devices

All electronics, appliances and devices in everyday life are designed solely for right handed people.  Face any of these, and tell me which of these machines is easier to use with the left hand (hint: none of them).

• ATM, bank machines
• cell phones
• tablet computers and touch screens
• kiosks
• entrance turnstiles and/or subway and train gates 
• landline telephones (the cord is on the left, leaving the right hand free to operate buttons and write)
• old televisions with dials (thankfully now passé)
• radios, both AM/FM/shortwave and two-way
• microwave ovens
• countertop and toaster ovens

That's just a partial list, to keep this short.

Kitchenware

Good luck finding a knife that can be used left handed without paying through the nose for one online.  The bevel on most blades is like "A" in the picture below.  Cutting straight with the right hand is easy, with the left almost impossible.  "C" is designed to be held with the left, making straight cuts easy.

(When using a knife and fork, I hold the knife in the right hand.  When I cook, my carving, paring or bread knife in is my left.  I can afford to buy specialy knives, many people can't.)

The same goes for spatulas, ladles, can openers (including the P-38 style), and many other commonly used kitchen items.

Here's a funny happenstance: a glass measuring cup.  It was designed so the imperial side will be closest to right handed people, metric on the other side.  (Another sign that Americans don't want to go metric.)  As it turns out, this is perfect.

Do any companies cater to left handed users?

Yes, but these are usually limited to high priced items or where there is a great demand, including some by right handed people.  The three most common left handed products are:

• Musical instruments

The most readily available left handed instruments are guitars and bass guitars.  Myself, I don't see the point - the able hand should be used for fretting, not strumming (see: Mark Knopfler, Steve Morse, Robert Fripp, Johnny Winter, et al).  There may be other extreme examples, but for the most part, instruments are two handed (most notably, percussion instruments). Interestingly, no one builds violins to be played the opposite way.

That said, most two handed instruments favour one hand.  For example, a piano's treble keys are played by the right hand and are more important, while a saxophone, clarinet or flute depend heavily on the left hand.  Many instruments cannot be converted and are played either strictly right handed (trumpet, trombone, tuba) or left handed (French horn).

• Sporting goods 

Some sports value and desire left handed players, so left handed equipment is often readily available and affordable.

Baseball is a game of geometry where left handed players are invaluable.  A left at first base faces home plate when catching a ball, and teams wants half their pitchers to be lefties.  The handedness of outfielders doesn't matter, but you will never see a left handed catcher and rarely at second, third or shortshop.

Many right handers intentionally learn to hit left handed because hitting left handed is advantageous.  After swinging the bat, a right hander faces third base.  A left handed hitter faces first base and is six feet closer.  Additionally, lefties hit to right field, away from second, third and home, resulting in fewer outs.  Righties hit to left field where there are more players and more putting players out at second and third is easier.

Hockey values left handed players at all skating positions.  Take left wing for example: a left handed winger can pass to the centre accurately, but a right handed winger has a good shooting angle for scoring goals.  This applies to all five skating positions - teams value talent, handedness is irrelevant.

Coaches often try to prevent left handers from being goaltenders, though that's probably more to do with the availability of equipment rather than ability.  Former NHL left handed goalies include hall of fame players (Grant Fuhr, Tony Esposito) plus many who played a decade or longer and won major NHL and international trophies (Roger Crozier, Tomas Vokoun, Roman Turek, Tom Barrasso, among others).


North American football coaches intentionally try to prevent left handed players from becoming quarterbacks.  And yet amongst NFL quarterbacks, two left handers are in the hall of fame out of less than forty in the NFL's history (~6%).  There are only 32 right handed quarterbacks in the NFL's hall of fame, out of almost 1000 players (~3%).  (I no longer watch football at any level because of the off-field violence by its players and other issues like CTE.  It is long past time for the game to be banned.)

Some teams sports do not need specialized equipment.  Basketball has no bias in equipment, but definitely desires players who can use the left or both because of positions and defending.  Many soccer/football players are left or right footed which makes a big difference in passing - watch Japan's #5, Yuto Nagatomo.  (I'm left handed but right footed.  Go figure.)

In sports where individuals compete one-on-one (e.g. racquet sports, combat sports), left handers have an advtantage because of their rarity.  Right handed opponents rarely face left handed people, while left handers face them all the time.  And the opposite handedness means balls or combat strikes come towards the right hander's attacking side, not their defensive side.

• Firearms 

Firearms designed or altered for left handed use usually involve ejecting bullet casings to the left side, away from the shooter.  (No, I am not going to provide links for ammosexuals to look at.)

In Conclusion....

Isn't 10% enough of the market for corporations to accomodate people?  Especially when it is much more expensive and less profitable to install or purchase things used by a much smaller percentage of the population (e.g. wheelchair accessible ramps on buildings, sidewalks, buses, and even a playground swing; braille written on objects; floor and sidewalk tiling for the blind)?

No, being left handed is not a disability, nor is there any overt discrimination by manufacturers.  But one can accurately describe this as thoughtlessness, as arrogance and a lack of consideration.  Other examples of such thoughtlessness (and with a larger market, 50% of humans) are car manufacturers and the pharmaceutical industry.  The front seats and seat belts of cars are still built for adult males, which makes it difficult for women to drive and puts their safety at risk.  And drugs are tested only on men, leaving women to face unexpected side effects and drug companies falsely claiming their products aren't at fault.

Saturday, part 7: Left Handedness - Who's Who, and What's What

Seven Days Left: Technological discrimination

This is the fifth of seven items in seven days on left handedness.

Left Handedness and Technological Discrimination

The primary problem with left handed computing is software, not hardware.  It's unrealistic to expect hardward manufacturers to build left hand specific devices because of economies of scale.

But there is absolutely no excuse for software developers not to accomodate left handed people.  Changing the screen layout and behaviour of software has no physical limitation.  The problem is a lack of consideration for left handed people (in both meanings of the word, kindness and thinking).

Seven Days Left: Economic discrimination

This is the fourth of seven items in seven days on left handedness.

Left Handedness and Economic Discrimination

If there is any bias against left handed people in economic terms, it's against the left handed people as a whole because of mass manufacturing and economies of scale, not against individuals.  All news and research items I have found discussing the wages and employment prospects left handed people are inconclusive.  Some say left handers make more money, some say less, some say there is no difference.  It's a wash.

Handedness is likely only a factor in employment when jobs use mass manufactured industrial machinery (e.g. industrial tools) or specifically built machines.  Industrial machinery is almost always made only for the right hand, and thus a left handed person's quality of work may suffer when using equipment made for the wrong hand.

But mass manufacturing is an economic problem.  Aside from a few industries such as musical instruments, sporting goods and firearms (who needs that?), manufacturers rarely make left specific products.

Thursday, part 5: Left Handedness and technological discrimination

Seven Days Left: Social discrimination

This is the third of seven items in seven days on left handedness.

Left Handedness and Social Discrimination

Throughout history and across the world, the societal response to left handedness has varied, but mostly been negative.

(N.B.: This item is incomplete due to personal time contraints.  I will add more in the next few days.)


Language

In nearly all languages, "left" has negative connotations and "right" has positive ones.  "Left" is usually accociated with either being weak, dishonest, incapable, sneaky, evil or female.  Terms abound:

"two left feet" = can't dance
"left-handed compliment" = an insult
“left-handed marriage” = adultery
“left-handed wife” = a mistress
“left-hander” = homosexual

http://www.lefthandersday.com/tour/left-handed-language#.V6oMFdRzDKg

Negative connotations of the word infest politics, and not because "left" often means socialist or communist.  In parliamentary democracies (e.g. England, Canada, Australia, etc.), the "Speaker of the House" represents the queen of England, and by extension, the mythical christian "god".  The governing party always sits to the right of the Speaker ("god's" favoured side) while the opposition ("the enemy") sit on the left.


Religions

Every religious views I could find items on described right as "good" and left as "bad".  There was no dissent to be found.

Use of the left hand is considered "disrespectful" in islamic countries. The left hand is the "toilet hand" and thus "unclean" for handling things, especially food.

A claim about judaism is repeated in many places, but I cannot find an original source:

The medieval jewish philosopher Maimonides listed 100 blemishes a jewish priest could not have, and being left-handed was one of them. 

Hinduism promotes equally uncomplimentary views on left handedness.


Nations

Negative attitudes towards left handed people are pervasive and worldwide. 

The Soviet Union institutionalized the forced switching of children's hands and attitudes in post-Soviet Russia really haven't changed much.

In Ghana, physical abuse (mislabelled "corporal punishment") is still commonplace, and left handed children are targeted:

ASSASSAN, Ghana, 3 September 2014 – When Benedicte Bon-Farson was a young girl in grade 3, she didn’t want to go to school. “Anytime I got up to go to school, I feel like, ahh!” she recalls, many years later.

Ms. Bon-Farson is left handed, and because of this, her grade 3 teacher constantly ‘caned’ her – punished her by hitting her with a cane.

Brazil still regularly forces the switching of hands.  The so-called "scientists" who wrote that in 2007 it call the mental and physical abuse of children "successful switching of hands".


India also bases its anti-left attitudes on "tradition" and religion.

Indonesia has many of the same attitudes as most muslim countries.

New Zealand and South Africa's past churns my stomach.  From "The Left Stuff: How the Left-Handed Have Survived and Thrived in a Right-Handed World", by Melissa Roth (2005):

The Maori of the South Pacific were known for enforcing some of the most severe sanctions against the left handed.  They believed the right side to be the "side of life" whereas the left represented the side of death.  Women were required to weave ceremonial cloth with the right hand, as the left hand would profane and curse the cloth.  If they used their left hand to weave, they could be killed.

A continent away, the Zulus of southern Africa poured boiling water into a hole and then placed a child's left hand in it, with the intention of scalding it so that it could not be used.

Wednesday, part 4: Left Handedness and Economic Discrimination

Seven Days Left: Educational discrimination

This is the second of seven items in seven days on left handedness.

Left Handedness and Educational Discrimination

I have taught English for fifteen years and met scores of certified teachers over the years.  They use teaching ESL in Asia as a springboard to becoming public school teachers in their home countries.  During that time, I have asked most of them one question, the question to all of them:

Were you ever taught specific techniques for left handed handwriting, not just "copy what the right handers do"?

I have met a grand total of ONE person in fifteen years who was trained to teach left handed handwriting.  There are teaching techniques specially designed left handed students.  And there are materials you can purchase to help them.  There is stationery and notebooks to write in.

When I say left handed handwriting, most people will ignorantly think that means telling left handed children, "Just copy what the right handed kids are doing."  Wrong.  It means teaching children how to hold a pen or pencil, how to align the paper and proper posture specifically for left handed writers.  There is no excuse for not teaching children properly.  Refusing to is ignorance and abuse.

It's bad enough that children aren't being taught properly by people who claim to be qualified teachers and come from wealthy, English speaking countries (usually G7 or G12 countries).  But most teachers in poorer countries (Asian, African, South American and muslim countries) still "think" it's acceptable to force children to switch hands.  Mental, physical and emotional abuse of left handed children is an everyday thing in most of the world.

The educational discrimination against left handed children primarily comes from four sources.

1) Teachers

Teachers are taught only righthanded handwriting, they are not properly teaching left handed students.  This causes left handed students to have poor handwriting.  And then those with right handed privilege have the arrogance to say, "Left handed people can't write properly" despite the fact it's the right handed majority that caused the problem, by not teaching kids properly.

This failure to train properly means left handed children take longer to write, write less well, and often don't learn as well or do poorly on tests because schools cater only to right handed writers.  The problem is not being left handed, the problem is the indifference and arrogance of the educational system.

And then there's the issue of abuse.  In my time teaching, students have told me their teachers mistreat them in various ways, some of which I experienced myself as a child:

* work marked wrong for being done left handed

* forcing left handed children to sit to the right of right handed children, causing conflict (and passive-aggressively blaming the left handed child for the teacher's actions)

* ignoring and refusing to teach or interact whatsoever with left handed children

* hitting children's hands

* verbal abuse (insults, being called "hamfisted", "awkward", "evil", etc.)

On top of this, such abuse is often supported or repeated by the parents.  Left handed children have no reprieve from the abuse and no means of support.  Schools and home, the two greatest sources of emotional support for most children, are the two greatest abusers of left handed children.

2) School furniture

In this picture of a typical lecture hall, there are appromately eighty desks.  FIVE are left handed (far less than 10-15 percent average in the population), and ALL of them are along the left wall of the room.  NONE are in the centre section of the room, preventing left handed students from having a good view of the teaching area, boards and screens.

Are you really going to claim there is no bias against left handed students?  And that's just a college classroom.  In most elementary, junior and high schools, desks present the same problem.  There is no attempt made to accomodate or include left handed people, only a deliberate decision to exclude.

Schools purchase almost entirely right handed desks, rarely more than one or two left handed desks per classroom instead of the 10-15% actually needed.  It is only when schools have neutral furniture (e.g. tables with separate, unconnected chairs) that the furniture is equal.  And then there's the issue of classroom layout, often designed to allow students to view a chalkboard or whiteboard if the teacher writes with the right hand and stands to the right of the board.

Money is not the issue, a lack of respect and willingness to include left handed people is the problem.  It costs the same to build and purchase left handed desks.  And placing them at the left side of the centre section of lecture halls would not inconvenience anyone.

3) Stationery

Finding stationery that is left handed almost always requires online purchase, and hand-neutral stationery is rare.  Aside from pencils, there isn't much that doesn't have a right handed bias.

* ringed notebooks rarely open with the spine on the right, to allow left handed people to write without interference

* binders and folders are designed to write on the right hand side, leaving nowhere for left handed people to place their hand

* ball point pens are designed to be pulled, not pushed, and often jam when used by left handed writers

* rulers with numbers going right-to-left can only be purchased online; measuring and line drawing is often difficult

* left handed scissors are rare

* drawing equipment (geometry, drafting, stencils) is designed to face right handed people


4) Books and written materials

The next time you have to print papers to be written on and staple them together, try putting the staples on the RIGHT hand side of the papers instead of the left.  Force right handed people to place their hands on the stapled side with their hand on an uncomfortable spine, while left handed people can write easily on flat paper.  I guarantee you that a few of the right handed people will complain, becoming emotional and even visibly angry at papers NOT being stapled for the benefit of right handed people.  Left handed people have to cope with this every day, but the right handed people will act as if this were an injustice.

Where to find left handed stationery

There are several online stores which sell writing instruments, notebooks and other items for left handed people (including kitchen utensils and tools, but here we are talking about schools).  Here are few of them:

Lefty's (Australia store)

Left-Handed Convenience (Malaysia) - Predominantly muslim countries openly discriminate against left hand people.

Left Hand New Zealand

Imborrable (Spain) - Their "Leftybooks" have angled lines to make writing easier for left handed people.

Anything Left Handed (UK)

Left Shop Online (UK)

Left Handed World (US)

Lefty's, The Left Handed Store (US)

Rainbow Resource (US) - Yes, this is a "homeschooling" company run by christians.  (Doublecheck your credit card charges!)  But the dearth of left handed resources and stores makes it necessary to list this one.

Fountain pens are also worth consider for left handed children.  Ball point pens are designed to be pulled by the right hand, not pushed with the left.  In countries where arabic and hebrew are common (languages written right-to-left), fountain pens are preffered because they don't jam or dig into the paper when writing.  Fountain pens can range from the cheapest refillables (as little as US$5-10) to the highest quality (hundreds of dollars).

Inoxcrom (Spain) - They will have an online store by the end of 2016.

Jet Pens

Parker fountain pens

Amazon.com: fountain pen - There are various pens from the lowest quality (cheap Chinese-made or Pilot) to the highest name brands.


Tuesday, part 3: Left Handedness and social discrimination

Seven Days Left: Religious discrimination

This is the first of seven items in seven days on left handedness.

Left Handedness and Religious Discrimination

Throughout history, religions have deemed the left hand as being "bad" or "evil", and decreed that those who use the left hand need to be forced to unnaturally change hands.  Such attitudes pervade all societies and all religious cults in every continent - North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania.  And when I say throughout history, I am not only referring to the past.  Religious discrimination against left handed people still happens today in many parts of the world.


Fictions in the abrahamic cults (judaism, christianity and islam) blather about the "right hand of god" as the good side, the "left hand" as the side of the fictional being "satan".  It affects all of society and in language - descriptions (ability or inability), derision of LGBTQIA people and women, and even political terminology.

African countries are mostly either christian or muslim.  In places where ludicrous claims of "witchcraft" are made against people, especially christian countries (e.g. Nigeria, Uganda) left handed people are called "witches" along with the blind, the handicapped and other minorities.  In many countries where christianity was inflicted upon the population in the 18th and 19th centuries, such outdated and ignorant views still persist (e.g. violent laws against lesbian and gay people).

In nearly all islamic countries, people are indoctrinated with the idea that the left hand is the "dirty hand" and the right is the "clean hand".  People ignorantly believe that touching food or giving something with the left hand is considered "disrespectful".  The abuse of left handed children - forcing them to switch hands - is still considered "acceptable".

In many Asian countries, physical violence - falsely labelled "corporal punishment" - is still common practice, even in countries where "corporal punishment" is has been criminalized.  I live and teach in Taiwan where similar attitudes are still pervasive, and have taught in South Korea where it was worse.  Other ESL teachers have reported similar attitudes in Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and other countries.

I am specifically focusing left handed children because they bear the brunt of the abuse faced by left handed people worldwide.  It is the most defenseless with the weakest voices who suffer, and often in the name of religion or "culture".  If you say discrimination against left handed people is "unimportant", if you say "there is no such thing as right handed privilege", then you are saying, advocating and supporting the verbal, physical and emotional abuse of children.

Monday, part 2: Left Handedness and educational discrimination.

Countdown Begins: On Sunday, there are Seven Days Left

August 13 is International Left Handers Day, for those who don't know.  Left Handers Day is a chance for those born preferring the left hand to stand up and celebrate being who we are.  But it is also a day to point out and criticize right handed privilege and the discrimination that left handed people face every day.

If you read that first paragraph and laugh or sneer, it almost certainly means you have right handed privilege and are uneducated about the issues involved.  It's easy to ignore or pretend a problem doesn't exist when it doesn't affect yourself.

Each day from August 7 until August 13, I will post one topic about the problems left handed people face.  If you claim to fight for social justice and oppose discrimination and abuse, put aside your ignorance and dismissiveness.  Start reading and start thinking.

August 7: Left Handedness and religious discrimination

August 8: Left Handedness and educational discrimination

August 9: Left Handedness and social discrimination

August 10: Left Handedness and economic discrimination

August 11: Left Handedness and technological discrimination

August 12: Left Handedness and ergonomic discrimination

August 13: Left Handedness - Who's Who, and What's What

Ignorance Speaks: Steve Jobs displays his ignorance

I ran across a news item from 2010, and the ignorance, arrogance and ineptitude of Steve Jobs are clearly on display.  Small wonder he built a cult of personality around himself, he believed he was infallible.

Apple accused of 'discrimination' over iPhone 4
 
Apple has been accused of ''discrimination'' over the design of their iPhone 4 – amid claims that left handers find it more difficult to use.

[T] there have been complaints an antenna in the lower left corner can become masked when held by a left-handed owner, causing a drop in signal strength.

The glitch emerged in the form of videos of users demonstrating the fault on technology blogs within hours of the new iPhone going on sale in the US.

Apple boss Steve Jobs defended the gadget and declared: "Just avoid holding it in that way."

Translated: "I don't care if you are left handed, use it right handed.  Poor design by Apple's engineers are your problem, not mine."

I was never an Apple fanatic fanboy, so I never paid any attention to stories about it.  But if I ever needed an excuse not to use their overpriced and underpowered products, this is one.