2 Across the Middle East, and many other parts of the world, touching food with the left hand is a cultural taboo. Because most people use their right hand to eat with, many cultures have made a point of using the left hand to perform tasks that include contact with dirt and excrement. In fact, from a leftie perspective it gets worse. The word ‘ right‘ goes all the way back to the Proto-Indo-European root word *reg from which we also get words like ‘regular’, ‘straight’, ‘correct’, ‘adroit’, ‘royal’ and ‘rule’.īoth literally and symbolically, ‘right’ embodies normality, ability and thus the natural order of things. For instance, the English word ‘dexterity’ is derived from the Latin for right-handed whereas the word ‘ left‘ has Germanic origins meaning weak or foolish. It is a physical bias strong enough to shape language. Our right hands are typically stronger and more dextrous than the left. The symbolic meaning of left and right is much older the French Revolution. So, is that all there is to it – just an accident of history? The legacy of a seating arrangement that might just as easily have gone the other way? Absolutely not. Over the next two hundred years, these labels would attach themselves to the politics of other nations – whether or not their legislative bodies followed the same physical layout. However, the symbolism of its seating arrangement would persist in the various bodies that succeeded it – those most attached to the established order on the right, those keenest on radical change on the left, and those between the extremes in the centre. The Assembly, formed in 1789, was soon for the chop (as indeed were many of its members). le President’s right hand, or on his left: the Cote Droit conservative the Cote Gauche destructive.” There is a Right Side (Cote Droit), a Left Side (Cote Gauche) sitting on M. “…if we glance into that Assembly Hall of theirs, it will be found, as is natural, ‘most irregular.’ As many as ‘a hundred members are on their feet at once ’ no rule in making motions, or only commencements of a rule Spectators’ Gallery allowed to applaud, and even to hiss… Nevertheless, as in all human Assemblages, like does begin arranging itself to like… Rudiments of Methods disclose themselves rudiments of Parties. It comes from his description of the National Constituent Assembly – the first ‘parliament’ of revolutionary France, where supporters of the king and supporters of the revolution sat on opposite sides of the chamber: 1 In the English language, the first reference to Left and Right as political categories is in Thomas Carlyle’s 1837 history of the French Revolution. Third, what is the true meaning of Open and Closed? What is it doing to democracy? And are the advocates of ‘Open’ really as open as they think they are?įor more on these new directions, read on.Second, what are the alternatives to Left-versus-Right? Why has ‘open-versus-closed’ emerged as the front runner? And who’s pushing the idea?.First, where did Left and Right come from? How did they end up defining our politics? And why are they now losing their grip?.This deep dive is an attempt to find answers. But realignment along what axis? If it’s no longer Left-versus-Right, then what are the defining directions of the new spectrum? Further reading Open vs Closed: The rise and fall of Left and Rightįrom Brexit to Trump to the populist triumph in Italy, the established order is under attack.
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