THE IMMORTALIZATION OF THOUGHT

Kyubeen Lee

To this day, innumerous discrimination has gradually been alleviated. One bias, on the other, has not even been remotely acknowledged and considered altogether inconsequential. As left handers are by far in the minority, it is deeply felt that the bias against left-handedness is yet to diminish entirely. Our planet is built for right-handedness; a scar of discrimination that once defined all of education in itself. Although it is yet unknown why this to be true, 90% of the population is indeed right-handed.

The majority claims that discrimination has faded away. Others state it has lingered among humanity for centuries, shaping our every move. Some even say the bias never existed to begin with. While countless assertions capsized our very thought, it has been seen that the world changed drastically due to this bias. According to Daniel Casasanto, a psychologist at the University of Chicago attests: the right-hand bias is all around us – everlasting(Jacewicz 2016). The realm of handedness – the dominant hand – has been an interesting study for decades. Humanity has struggled to locate the source of this bias, only to find dead ends.

It is necessary to observe the past so as to comprehend the current state of the left-hand bias. Multiple cultures consider the use of the left hand incompatible and abnormal. It is prejudiced that the left hand is of use for personal hygiene in Indian countries. People have been overly paranoid to become right-handed; a subset to the majority. They have even gone to the lengths of taping their left hand to their desks. This implausible solution stimulates or catalyzes ADHD, a mental disorder known for causing above-normal levels of hyperactivity. Needless to say, history has undeniably been oppressive to left-handedness.

Not only is the bias littered across humanity’s timeline, but it can also be spotted in a linguistic form. The word ‘right’ comes from the Old English riht, whose original meaning was ‘straight.’ Whereas the word ‘left’ comes from the Old English lyft, the meaning of which indicates weakness. The term was subsequently used to designate the weaker; the non-dominant hand. In fact, the word for having equal ability in both hands is ‘Ambidextrous,’ and ‘dexter’ in Latin means ‘right.’ On indicating someone as ambidextrous, one literally refers to them as having two right-hands(Pinsker, 2014). It’s opposite, the inability of use in both hands is ‘Ambilevous;’ and in Latin, ‘levous’ means left. Having observed the English vocabulary, it would be fallacious to propose the nonexistence of the left-hand bias. 

A remnant of the left- hand bias still dwells in the present. To fathom the depths of the origin is essential. For certain, the current inequality is an echo of the precedent. The stereotypical past and the etymology indeed authenticates the bias to be prevailing at one time. An observation of the present is as atrocious as that of the past. That being said, the configuration of the bias is quite contrasting.

The way to write from left to right is of global tradition, yet none comprehends this to be an encumbrance for the left-handed. No one is aware that scissors, baseball bats, and countless mechanisms are produced, prejudiced to left-handedness. As left hand bias takes over the past, language, the present and the plausible future; the discrimination surmounts over one’s conscious awareness. It is appalling to witness the impact from the left-hand bias. Inasmuch it has lingered in thought; not a direct hindrance in society, but a memory.

It is true that history’s antagonism has lurked in the shadows for centuries; that the bias – oblivious to the human eye – has awaited so as to pinpoint the future spotlight. Its culmination has dominated history and now possesses the innermost thought. Humanity have overlooked a trivial bias that has now become an unconscious discrimination. While the origin of this bias is clearly significant, how it has evolved, or rather mutated the current society is even more so.

Racism and gender discrimination are currently crucial in the realms of bias. And yet, still it is shallow to attest; they are not the most significant at the end of the day. Not like the unconscious bias that has the potential of perennial existence. Countless biases deteriorated, some of which became opaque to the human eye and became a subconscious reminder to the human thought.

An unconscious bias is like the tip of the iceberg. The comprehension of the left-hand bias is only a fraction of its authentic manifestation. Below sea level is a whole other reality from which it overshadows civic thought. Hence, the necessity of vigilance when confronting an unconscious bias is prominent. Let not be forgotten, unconscious biases are everlasting, that prejudice is the precursor of the present. May it submerge itself from one’s comprehension; recall the contingency, and never shall the unconscious bias prevail.