Post by WinterMoon on May 6, 2015 5:28:22 GMT
Remember when I first came on board here, and started approximately one thread with a really odd topic every week? This is one of those.
The Mandela Effect is a fringe theory, which is slowly creeping into the mainstream as more and more people realize they have experienced it. It's got nothing to do with Mandela's politics, but it's named after him because it was his death (in 2013), which made people aware that this was a thing. Quickly explained, it means that something you remember very vividly, often a public event or a shared memory, later turns out not to have happened that way at all. The usual reaction is normally to just brush it off as a memory fluke, and think you got it wrong, but then it turns out you're not the only one who remembers it.
There is a official website for the phenomenon here, if you're interested. Personally, I think some of the ideas presented there are both a bit on the heavy side and a bit far-fetched. I'm more interested in people's stories of a possibly alternative past.
When Madela died as an old man two years ago, many people were shocked because they clearly remembered him having died years before, still in prison. This apparently false memory was so widespread that people started talking about it, and discovered that they seemed to misremember many of the same details in the same way. For example, his "alternative" death is agreed to have been in the 80s, and many remember his widow collapsing during the ceremony and how it made a deep impression on them. There also seems to be agreement that his untimely death, possibly not natural causes, sparked a serious international reaction, and that there were huge riots in both South Africa and other countries. Many of the people affected obviously don't remember his time as president at all. Some had this revelation when he was elected in 1994. Those who remember this "other" past are adamant that it is Nelson Mandela's death and funeral they remember, not Stephen Biko who's often suggested as a rational explaination. Quite frankly, though... where's the fun in a rational explaination here? Why not just embrace the mystery?
The second most common "false memory" is that the Berenstain Bears used to be called the Berenstein Bears. Obviously, they were always Berenstain, as that's the name of the authors, but since around 2012 a lot of people have been claiming that the name has at some point changed. People have even reported finding their old books in the attick, only to discover that the name is now spelled differently on the cover.
One girl at a forum (I visit the weir part of the Internet) explained how she had been a huge fan, and learned how to copy the logo in her fan-art. She definitely remembered it as being "stein" back then. Another told of how her teacher explained to her that it was pronounced "Beren-steen."
Personally, I have no opinion on either of these. I did watch the Berenstain Bears as a kid, in a Norwegian dub, but I didn't pay much attention to the logo since I wasn't learning English in school yet. I can't remember Mandela having died before. The one I do remember, and which got my attention when I saw it listed, is the third most common memory - Tank Boy. You know, this guy, in Tiananmen Square. He was ran over! He died! Except, he didn't? I was too young to be allowed by my (by modern standards, extremely) strict parents to watch the actual clip on the news, so no I didn't see it with my own eyes. What I do remember, is people talking about that video, and the description of him going under the tank. They were horrified by it. The fact that I've always heard him described as having held his arms out, only leads to the confusion. I've watched the video later, after finding out he lived, and he never raised his arms. The only explaination I can think of, is that someone else was caught on film as he was ran over, because some of the protesters really were, and that this is the clip everyone remembers seeing. But that guy in the picture is THE Tank Boy, who became famous as the brave little human who didn't flinch in the face of tyranny. Why can nobody seem to find the clip of the other man, who was apparently killed? There is Fang Zheng, who lost his legs when he was run over, but he's also alive and doesn't appear to have been filmed. (Plus, he was not trying to block the tank, he was dragging an unconscious friend out of harm's way.)
People who remember one of these events tend to also remember others. I'm not going to go into quantum-physics and conspiracy theories here, and I'm definitely not saying they're crazy or necessarily even wrong. However, there seems to be some sort of connection between these events that never happened. Other things people commonly remember are different locations of Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, the death and televised funeral of an American evangelist named Billy Graham, the death of Fidel Castro... Hang on! Castro is definitely dead. *Checks Wikipedia* ...! He's not. Wow, I'm a bit scared now! Others remember Chakotay from Star Trek being killed off in an episode that apparently was never made, and mysteriously reappearing on the show later. Same thing apparently happened to Fonzie from Happy Days. That's a show I've never attempted to watch, but I know it was very popular in the US. Many people have googles "Fonzie dies".
I do have one of these weird non-events in my own life as well. In late 1992, two of my friends became aunt and uncle at only 14 and 10, when their oldest sister (19-20) had her first baby. I know I'm thinking of the right family, because 1: These kids were the cousins of my "second-best" friend at the time, and she was the one who brought us the news on the way to school one morning. 2: Their step-mother was considered wicked cool, and we all hung out at their house all the time, even when the kids weren't there. 3: I keep messing up the names "Marianne" and "Elisabeth." This is a persisting problem. If I meet someone with one of those names, I'll probably call them by the other sooner or later. The two sisters in this family are called Marianne and Elisabeth. When our friend told us that Marianne had given birth, I was confused, and asked if she meant Elisabeth. I though Marianne was the 14-year-old. My friend got confused too, and wondered why I thought Elisabeth, who was 14, had been pregnant. She hadn't even kissed a guy. Then something weird happened. In around 2003, Marianne had her first baby. Again. I don't know the family anymore, but I was told this by someone who does. What I was actually told, though, was that their brother had become an uncle and was beside himself with pride. When I pointed out that he was already an uncle, and had been so for 11 years, they said that he hadn't. This was the first child born to that generation of the family. Apparently, the 1992 baby doesn't exist.
Speaking of the un-born... Looking on the official page, I see that some people remember Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar having their first baby in the early 2000s. I don't remember that, but I remember Freddie committing suicide, at the same age as his father. Apparently he didn't. Oh, and it gets better. This girl reported just finding out that Jeff Buckly has been dead since 1997, despite having seen him interviewed on TV last week! She noted that he had aged well. Incidentally, I googled the guy just two or three days ago, and didn't see anything about him being dead. I think there were even pictures of him as an older guy.
Okay. I'm... going to go wash my hair now, and get ready to do something useful.
The Mandela Effect is a fringe theory, which is slowly creeping into the mainstream as more and more people realize they have experienced it. It's got nothing to do with Mandela's politics, but it's named after him because it was his death (in 2013), which made people aware that this was a thing. Quickly explained, it means that something you remember very vividly, often a public event or a shared memory, later turns out not to have happened that way at all. The usual reaction is normally to just brush it off as a memory fluke, and think you got it wrong, but then it turns out you're not the only one who remembers it.
There is a official website for the phenomenon here, if you're interested. Personally, I think some of the ideas presented there are both a bit on the heavy side and a bit far-fetched. I'm more interested in people's stories of a possibly alternative past.
When Madela died as an old man two years ago, many people were shocked because they clearly remembered him having died years before, still in prison. This apparently false memory was so widespread that people started talking about it, and discovered that they seemed to misremember many of the same details in the same way. For example, his "alternative" death is agreed to have been in the 80s, and many remember his widow collapsing during the ceremony and how it made a deep impression on them. There also seems to be agreement that his untimely death, possibly not natural causes, sparked a serious international reaction, and that there were huge riots in both South Africa and other countries. Many of the people affected obviously don't remember his time as president at all. Some had this revelation when he was elected in 1994. Those who remember this "other" past are adamant that it is Nelson Mandela's death and funeral they remember, not Stephen Biko who's often suggested as a rational explaination. Quite frankly, though... where's the fun in a rational explaination here? Why not just embrace the mystery?
The second most common "false memory" is that the Berenstain Bears used to be called the Berenstein Bears. Obviously, they were always Berenstain, as that's the name of the authors, but since around 2012 a lot of people have been claiming that the name has at some point changed. People have even reported finding their old books in the attick, only to discover that the name is now spelled differently on the cover.
One girl at a forum (I visit the weir part of the Internet) explained how she had been a huge fan, and learned how to copy the logo in her fan-art. She definitely remembered it as being "stein" back then. Another told of how her teacher explained to her that it was pronounced "Beren-steen."Personally, I have no opinion on either of these. I did watch the Berenstain Bears as a kid, in a Norwegian dub, but I didn't pay much attention to the logo since I wasn't learning English in school yet. I can't remember Mandela having died before. The one I do remember, and which got my attention when I saw it listed, is the third most common memory - Tank Boy. You know, this guy, in Tiananmen Square. He was ran over! He died! Except, he didn't? I was too young to be allowed by my (by modern standards, extremely) strict parents to watch the actual clip on the news, so no I didn't see it with my own eyes. What I do remember, is people talking about that video, and the description of him going under the tank. They were horrified by it. The fact that I've always heard him described as having held his arms out, only leads to the confusion. I've watched the video later, after finding out he lived, and he never raised his arms. The only explaination I can think of, is that someone else was caught on film as he was ran over, because some of the protesters really were, and that this is the clip everyone remembers seeing. But that guy in the picture is THE Tank Boy, who became famous as the brave little human who didn't flinch in the face of tyranny. Why can nobody seem to find the clip of the other man, who was apparently killed? There is Fang Zheng, who lost his legs when he was run over, but he's also alive and doesn't appear to have been filmed. (Plus, he was not trying to block the tank, he was dragging an unconscious friend out of harm's way.)
People who remember one of these events tend to also remember others. I'm not going to go into quantum-physics and conspiracy theories here, and I'm definitely not saying they're crazy or necessarily even wrong. However, there seems to be some sort of connection between these events that never happened. Other things people commonly remember are different locations of Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, the death and televised funeral of an American evangelist named Billy Graham, the death of Fidel Castro... Hang on! Castro is definitely dead. *Checks Wikipedia* ...! He's not.
Wow, I'm a bit scared now! Others remember Chakotay from Star Trek being killed off in an episode that apparently was never made, and mysteriously reappearing on the show later. Same thing apparently happened to Fonzie from Happy Days. That's a show I've never attempted to watch, but I know it was very popular in the US. Many people have googles "Fonzie dies". I do have one of these weird non-events in my own life as well. In late 1992, two of my friends became aunt and uncle at only 14 and 10, when their oldest sister (19-20) had her first baby. I know I'm thinking of the right family, because 1: These kids were the cousins of my "second-best" friend at the time, and she was the one who brought us the news on the way to school one morning. 2: Their step-mother was considered wicked cool, and we all hung out at their house all the time, even when the kids weren't there. 3: I keep messing up the names "Marianne" and "Elisabeth." This is a persisting problem. If I meet someone with one of those names, I'll probably call them by the other sooner or later. The two sisters in this family are called Marianne and Elisabeth. When our friend told us that Marianne had given birth, I was confused, and asked if she meant Elisabeth. I though Marianne was the 14-year-old. My friend got confused too, and wondered why I thought Elisabeth, who was 14, had been pregnant. She hadn't even kissed a guy. Then something weird happened. In around 2003, Marianne had her first baby. Again. I don't know the family anymore, but I was told this by someone who does. What I was actually told, though, was that their brother had become an uncle and was beside himself with pride. When I pointed out that he was already an uncle, and had been so for 11 years, they said that he hadn't. This was the first child born to that generation of the family. Apparently, the 1992 baby doesn't exist.
Speaking of the un-born... Looking on the official page, I see that some people remember Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar having their first baby in the early 2000s. I don't remember that, but I remember Freddie committing suicide, at the same age as his father. Apparently he didn't. Oh, and it gets better. This girl reported just finding out that Jeff Buckly has been dead since 1997, despite having seen him interviewed on TV last week! She noted that he had aged well. Incidentally, I googled the guy just two or three days ago, and didn't see anything about him being dead. I think there were even pictures of him as an older guy.
Okay. I'm... going to go wash my hair now, and get ready to do something useful.
