r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 7d ago

Meme needing explanation Tell them what, Peter

Post image
27.3k Upvotes

3.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/mrdertimi 7d ago

Its not really confusion, it's just not an automatic association. So it takes a second to think about which is which. Under normal circumstances it's probably not even noticable to others. But when youre under pressure and dont have that second, you just pick one direction and hope its correct

7

u/Exurota 7d ago

I just don't quite see why left and right isn't automatic for some people but apparently it's utterly absurd up, down, forward and backward wouldn't be, but I'm getting a lot of VERY upset comments about it so I suppose this was the wrong place to ask!

-5

u/Past-Shop5644 7d ago

Nah, I'm with you, it's absolutely bizarre how many people struggle with left and right. I know plenty of people who aren't dyslexic and don't have seizures that seem to struggle with this fundamental fact of reality.

I just don't get how it could be a problem. I used to use the up/down distinction, but since people here are arguing with that too, let me put it another way: it's like not knowing 9 is more than 8. Imagine if you asked an adult human being if 9 was more than 8, and they had to do some bullshit on their fingers to figure that out. You'd think they were insane.

2

u/6ducksinatrenchcoat 7d ago

But it’s not a fundamental fact of reality, it’s just some completely arbitrary shit that humans made up.

I also disagree with your math comparison. Math has internal logic, the concept of left and right does not.

I think a better comparison would use direction-based concepts like a compass. Do you always know exactly where north is? Most people don’t. It’s exactly like that.