Our Epimethean President

Bush Speak

Prometheus was the Titan who stole fire from heaven and gave it to humankind. For his trouble Zeus chained him to a rock and had an eagle eat out his liver during the day, which Zeus replaced each night. Prometheus is regarded as the great benefactor of humankind. He was decisive, quick witted, had a snappy retort for every occasion, and remembered a million jokes which he could recite at will. And, of course, his name means forethought. He was virtuous, right, dexterous, correct, able, adroit, deft, nimble, skillful, artful, clever, ingenious. It would go without saying that Prometheus was right handed.

The Simple Epimetheus

Not much is ever said about his simple brother Epimetheus. His name means afterthought and that's about what he is, an after thought. He couldn't finish a sentence, or had so many of them convoluted and intertwined his listeners needed a map to figure out what he was saying. He was vague and often at a loss for words. Of course, the next day, after having given the matter some thought he could enunciate the idea perfectly. He had trouble remembering things because he was always confusing new things with things he already knew. He was sinister, dark, shadowy, shady, dim, obscure, unclear, vague, dull, lack luster, and dimwitted, and he was either left handed or ambidextrous.

Left Brain/Right Brain

The Promethean, Epimethean myths are ancient descriptions of the left brain — right brain problem. As we all now know the left hemisphere of the brain controls the language function and in general handles linear logic — one step being followed by other sequential steps in the solution of a problem. The left brain controls the right hand since we are cross-wired.

The right brain is responsible for holistic analysis of the environment. The right brain can acquire and analyze images that the left brain cannot describe in language since language does not convey holistic images but linear thought — one word at a time. The right hemisphere controls the left hand. When neither hemisphere is dominant the individual is ambidextrous.

Right handedness results in the most assymetry of the brain, left handedness and ambidexterity produce the most symmetry.

Symmetry/Asymmetry

A symmetrical world contains much less information than a non-symmetrical world. Had the Big Bang been perfectly symmetrical, that is if the mutual creation of matter and anti-matter had been perfectly timed so that they were both being created in equal amounts at the same time, there would have been exact mutual annihilation of the two kinds of matter and the universe would consist of a dilute soup of photons with virtually no information.

The universe is loaded with information, so much so as to be everywhere dense because the Big Bang was asymmetrical.

The highly asymmetrical brain has an easier time seeing distinctions and differences, the symmetrical brain has to stop and consider what the differences might be. As an ambidextrous person I often can not tell my right hand from my left and with the simplest tasks, like adjusting the water temperature with two faucets, make random errors — turning off the cold when I want to turn off the hot. Reading disorders— dyslexia — are often associated with left handedness.

Right handedness (left brain) and language go together. Left handedness (right brain) and language are convoluted. The left brain is handling language and the right brain is handling its expression. The messages to accomplish all this have to go back and forth between the two lobes. Sometimes the messages are scrambled resulting in severe dyslexia, some times the order is reversed. Children often reverse two parts of a word until they are more facile with the language, casesuit for suitcase for instance. A woman of my acquaintance, has a brain so symmetrical that she could write forwards and backwards with either hand and could also write upside down and backwards with either hand. We know Leonardo da Vinci, could also do this since his note books are in a "secret code." The secret code is mirror writing i.e. it is upside down and backwards so when it is viewed in a mirror it appears normal. Leoanardo da Vinci one of the "Titans" of the Renaissance never seemed to finish anything.

35% of the Human Race

President Bush is left handed. So are 35% of the human race. President Bush has trouble getting out his thoughts extemporaneously. When they are prepared as was his presidential nomination acceptance speech his delivery is above reproach. He will invent short cuts for complicated ideas like the "vision thing" or an anything else "thing," as a means of getting an otherwise convoluted thought out. Not convoluted because the idea is complex but convoluted because the right and left brain are competing to get it out.

All through history left handed people have been discriminated against even to damning them in every day language — sinister — a word of bad connotation for instance simply means left in Latin.

Unalienable Lefts

We speak of the unalienable rights, why not the unalienable lefts. We speak of the rights of humankind, we use the word right to mean correct which means right—the root, "rect," meaning right as in rectangle, a geometric figure with right angles.

I personally revel in Bush speak. Its the way I speak sometimes. I am happy to see an important, successful world leader struggling with some of the same problems I have. I am sure that people in wheelchairs were proud to see Franklin D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair. Well I feel pretty good about seeing a President, the leader of the free world, far from being superman, having the problems I have thinking and speaking. Bush Speak tells us we have an intelligent, left handed human being in the White House — not a superman. I can relate to that.

. . . Ted Sudia. . .

© Copyright 1989
Institute for domestic Tranquility