Ok, most people dont know this but Ive always had this deep desire to learn how to play the violin. Since christmas is coming up I went looking online for violin prices so that I could drop a few hints to Rudy on what I wanted I was going to take Strings in 5th grade but I had to switch into chorus because my parents couldnt afford to rent me a violin, but while I was in that class I played "air violin" (pretending I had a violin in my hands and working an invisible bow >.>). Going by what I remembered from back then I noticed that most violins were backwards from what felt natural to me, and it was then that I discovered 99% of the world played violin with the violin in their left hand and the bow in their right, which just feels awkward to me. The way I play is considered the left handed way, and this is highly discouraged in violin schools, even going so far as to make people who are left handed in everything else learn to play the violin right handed.
I am not left handed, the only things Ive found that I do the "left handed" way are playing guitar/violin, and shooting a bow. But in violinist forums on the net I found even left handed people putting down people who play left handed. They give all kinds of reasons why people shouldnt, from "its just an excuse to ask for very special attention, maybe even from a violin teacher" to "In an orchestra they would get in everyones way since they are faced the wrong way" and even "Conform or die."

My question is, why such hostility towards playing left handed? In the past, kids who wrote left handed were discouraged from using that hand to write, those hands were even tied down or smacked with rulers to prevent their use so that the kids would "write the CORRECT way", but nowadays we consider this unnecissary prejudice. So why are violinist still stuck in this conformist mentality?
The only valid argument I could see is the one about the orchestra. If someone holds the violin a different way than everyone else in the orchestra, it interrupts the flow of the layout, so I can see why they would want to teach it in a proffessional setting. But what if you dont have aspirations for group playing? Should those students be mocked for wanting to play in the way that feels most natural for them?

So yeah, discuss, and please share if you play an instrument and have noticed this sort of thing

(Here is a link to one of the violinist forums which I saw the most hostility from if anyones curious )