this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2024
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Wed Jan 17 16:55:57 2024 UTC by CrazyPaya234

On an alt because my brother knows about my main, and I don't want this attention to come towards my parents and make it to my grandparents [somehow]

I never had a relationship with my grandparents from either side of my family. On my father's side, they died before I was born, and on my mother's I barely ever saw them. And when I did, it seemed as though they had no intensions of speaking or interacting with me. I was at home for the longer weekend because my parents needed help cleaning out the attic, and in one of the old boxes there was a old picture of my grandmother and my mom when she was younger. The picture got me thinking about why my mother's grandparents always had acted so strange around me, as if they were avoiding me entirely. I brought the subject up to my mother while we were cleaning up the attic, and she told me why. She told me that my grandparents had always been hyper-religious, specifically catholic. This came as no surprise as I had deduced such from various mannerisms they had shown in the little time I had meet them. She finally said that the reason my grandparents didn't want to be around me was because I was left handed.

WHAT.

She explained further that the left-hand had been interpreted as the devil's hand as a catholic superstition. Because of this, my grandparents had always been wary of me, which grew out to them avoiding having a relationship with me entirely. I'm at a loss for words as to how these insane traditions continue to be prevalent in religious circles, especially in older individuals. It saddens me that despite how Christians often claim to be a welcoming community to all people, that many exclusive and elitist traditions continue to be practiced. I hope as time goes on, we open our eyes to realize how absolutely batshit insane these traditions, and maybe religions as a whole, really are.

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[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 156 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds like you were better off never interacting with those nutjobs. Good for your mom protecting you from their crazy, because that is the sort of thing that would leave a scar on an impressionable young mind.

[–] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Like being forced to be right handed, which causes long term problems like stuttering.

[–] iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.com 14 points 1 year ago

My wife's mom was left handed but forced to use her right hand to write.

Anyway, she died of a degeneratieve nerve disorder which slowly took away her ability to control her muscles, while her brain reminded intact. Really terrible. Her right hand was among the last part of her body to lose control, so she was able to write after she lost the ability to speak.

So by pure chance at least one person benefitted from these crazy anti-leftie ideas. (She could just as easily have lost her ability to use her right hand first, which would have been a horrible twist of fate.)

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 119 points 1 year ago (4 children)

On an alt because my brother knows about my main, and I don't want this attention to come towards my parents and make it to my grandparents [somehow]

Dude, there are like 27 people total on Lemmy. I think he's going to figure it out. 🤔

/S

[–] bhamlin@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago

There are dozens of us! DOZENS!

[–] Esqplorer@lemmy.zip 20 points 1 year ago

This is a reddit repost. I know you posted the /s indicator, but just for clarity since this is the top comment, I think it's worth pointing out.

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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 92 points 1 year ago (6 children)

So much of Catholocism is extra-Biblical it's NUTS.

For example... the whole bit about no meat on Fridays. It had such a cultural impact that this is why restaurants do fish and chowder specials on Fridays.

There is absolutely no Biblical basis for it, but try telling that to a devout Catholic.

https://www.archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/catholic-faith/why-dont-catholics-eat-meat-on-fridays/#:~:text=In%20recognition%20of%20Friday%20as,year%20(see%20Canon%201251).

[–] Xariphon@kbin.social 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Also the reason priests can't marry has nothing to do with Jesus being celibate* and everything to do with medieval inheritance laws and making sure church land never leaves church ownership.

*In fact (assuming he existed at all) Jesus almost certainly was not celibate. You pretty much could not be taken seriously as a teacher in Judaism in that time period unless you were married. (Who tf was getting married at Caana and why would it have been his problem that they were out of wine if he was just another guest? But if he was the one getting married, well...)

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah, if he was real, he seemed to be pretty close to Mary of Magdolin (or whatever the place was), who was a prostitute during a time when celibacy wasn't really celebrated. I wouldn't even rule out him having kids.

Also Protestantism was a thing because of how corrupt the Catholic church got. They needed the Crusades funded, so they offered forgiveness for sins in return for either service in the Crusades or a financial donation in lieu of service. Then over time, that just became another thing that could be bought whenever, frequently after someone's death, which is fucked up on another level because people were guilted into paying for the souls of their loved ones so they could get into heaven even if they didn't confess in time (which they might have, or they might have lived a good life, but if you want to be sure to see grandpa after you die, better pay up just to be safe).

All the signs are there that Christianity is just a scam, I wish everyone could see it as well as understand that there's secular reasons to not do evil shit, it's just not as arbitrary about defining what is and isn't evil.

[–] Xariphon@kbin.social 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The more I read the Bible, and the more I read about the Bible, the more utterly laughable it becomes to me that anyone takes Christianity seriously.

[–] Seleni@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself. — Richard Francis Burton

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[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

According to some sources she wasn't a prostitute. The dark ages era or medieval era church just cast her in that role, partly because they wanted to make Jesus mother look even more holy and important, partly because they felt Mary Magdolin was seen as too important by Christians, and partly because it would make her a useful patsy for a story about Jesus forgiving the sinner.

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[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's old Roman superstition, basically. The Latin word for left is sinister and it had negative connotations even then. Predates Christianity by a decent bit yet that didn't stop the Romans who later turned Catholic from perpetuating their superstitions as dogma.

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[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

The reason for eating fish today is money making in the past.

"Fishermen were hurting. So much so that when Henry's young son, Edward VI, took over in 1547, fast days were reinstated by law — "for worldly and civil policy, to spare flesh, and use fish, for the benefit of the commonwealth, where many be fishers, and use the trade of living.""

source

[–] OpenStars@startrek.website 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Its origins in worshiping the fish god "Dagon" are... interesting to say the least.

But it is by far the only example.

Easter is reputedly (I heard - ofc really who knows) the name of a mesopotamian sun god's wife, where the worshipers would have an orgy with temple priestesses/prostitutes and then the next year do human sacrifices of the babies born from the previous years orgy. Exodus 23:13 be damned (“Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips." emphasis added). Notably, b/c Easter herself was supposedly visited by her dead husband (now the sun god) and in so doing turned a nearby bird into an egg-laying rabbit (or... vice versa? or something?), they would take the blood from the sacrifices and dip eggs into them. To this day the South American celebrations of Easter will only color their eggs red, not pastel as is done in many Western areas... and supposedly they have little idea why - it's just their tradition started sometime in the past and now mostly forgotten.

And the link between Christmas and the yearly winter solstice - worshipping a tree, the date of December 25, etc. - is very well-known.

If even 1/10th of any of this were true, that would be strong support for what you said - a LOT has been added over time. The Bible itself, even the Old Testament, while it does single out left-handedness as being "odd", often presents left-handedness as an ADVANTAGE (or strength and riches), or at least not terribly cursed - e.g. Judges 3:15-21, Judges 20:16 1 Chronicles 12:2, etc. Then again, the "tradition" of Catholicism (which I grew up under) is that people should never read the Bible, b/c we are too dum-dumbz to understand it, and the people should trust the priests to ~~fondle the children~~ explain everything properly.

So yeah, you probably are better off, even if you develop a relationship with them as an adult, to have avoided that indirect indoctrination as a child.

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[–] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You can jerk off all you want as long as you don't eat meat on Fridays. But you also have to eat Jesus meat on Sundays.

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[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 81 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] fogstormberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

why's he raising his right fist?

[–] Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 31 points 1 year ago

Because he's left-handed and so his right is the free one after he instinctively picked up the sign with his left?

[–] tooclose104@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 year ago

Easy, left handed sign

[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Because he's using his dominant hand to hold the sign.

[–] harry_balzac@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Sinister and proud of it!

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He’s an evangelical Protestant, not a Catholic.

[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Yeah, but the point is the Lefty solidarity, not his religion.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 67 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was waiting for 'born/conceived out of wedlock' and was hit with even more insanity.

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[–] CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 51 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I prefer to listen to Aleister Crowley and take the Left Handed Path in life.

"If one were to take the bible seriously one would go mad. But to take the bible seriously, one must be already mad"

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[–] Baphomet_The_Blasphemer@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

My older brother and I are my Mom's Mom's only grandsons (the rest of the grand babies are all girls), she shunned my brother because he is a lefty, she shunned the granddaughters because they're not male, and then there's me being her pride and joy as a tall well-educated right handed male who shunned her for being such a judgemental religious cunt of a woman.

Edit: In addition, I'm sorry you've had to deal with this. Nobody should be treated so poorly by their grandparents because of a crippling birth defect like being born left-handed 😉.

[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

she shunned the granddaughters because they're not male

Neither is she.

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[–] butterflyattack@lemmy.world 44 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The word 'sinister' derives from 'the left side', which shows we've been aware of the strong links between left-handedness and the unholy prince of falsehood for some time. Have fun in hell, abomination!

[–] BaumGeist@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

To clarify, the word "sinister" comes from the latin word for "left side," not that we somehow derive the word from the phrase "the left side"

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[–] june@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

I’ve never been more proud to be left handed

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 year ago

Also (mal)adroit meaning (un)skillful comes from the root meaning right.

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've said it before; blind faith is just a socially acceptable mental illness.

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[–] Veneroso@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You know what they say about the left handed.... They can't do anything right!

TY TY I'll be here all week!

Unrelated, I switched to fapping with my left hand two years ago and now I can't switch back.

[–] ohlaph@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

This fuckin guy...

[–] Meuzzin@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My mother was disfellowshipped from our Kingdom Hall, because my father committed adultery. The lesson is, don't expect even a cunt-hair's worth of logic from religious institutions.

[–] SlimeKnight@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

Sad to say I know enough about religious fuckery to know why it makes sense in their mind.

Men can't be expected to control their urges. So its the wife's responsibility to keep the husband sexually sated so he doesn't think about cheating. Therefore, its her fault.

Truely disgusting and unfair :/

[–] frustratedphagocytosis@kbin.social 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Grandfather was beaten when he tried to use his left hand in school (Catholic run), father was not beaten but also forced to use right hand in school. I was in kindergarten and the teacher pointed out that 'we need to fix that' referring to my left handed writing. My mother must have given her a stern warning because I never heard anything else about it.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The nuns “fixed” my dad and he has the worst handwriting of anyone I know. My mom went to public schools and writes excellently with her left hand.

Both my brother and I are left handed. It boggles my mind when I see people trying to change children’s inborn traits.

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[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

They did you a favor. The alternative would be having to deal with their insane bullshit. Good riddance.

[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

"By excluding all of these groups we're being extra inclusive to those we DO tolerate!"

[–] ohlaph@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Hey, Satan. /s

[–] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This used to be a thing even if you were not a religious nutjob. I lot of babies were forced to use their right hands if they showed any left handed tendencies.

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[–] Jaysyn@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Just like Trump, religion ruins everything it touches.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Cool. I can scare Catholics.

[–] kubica@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

Looking at the bright side, you end up winning by having them away.

[–] arizz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Welcome to the party, would you like a drink?

At least that is what I would say if op was the one posting this here. Glad I saw that this time, usually miss it.

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[–] HopingForBetter@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

Yeah... This is also partly why the dominant (read in church as "sinful") traits aren't prevalent, like having 6 fingers on one hand, or webbed hands, or a plethora of other indicators that YOU'RE A WITCH!

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