"Is the "Mandela Effect" the crackiest of crackpot “conspiracies”?" Thu Aug-25-16 01:12 PM by Cold Truth
For those who don’t know, TME is a theory based on the idea that a lot of people remembered Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 80’s.
This has always bugged the hell out of me because I had that exact memory, so I was at least a little relieved to learn that I wasn’t alone. Still, I accept the established and obvious history and that my memory was incorrect on this one.
My guess is there was once a report of him dying in prison from a tabloid or some shit and that snowballed in a time when it wasn’t so easy for the average person to fact check. Hell, people still spread all kinds of shit that they don’t bother to fact check right today even though it takes about the same amount of time to google/snopes something as it does to post it on FB.
Anyhow, the theory is that reality has changed over the years and we’re all either people from another reality transplanted somehow in this reality or vice versa, a new reality is created around us. People tend to blame CERN for this.
Now, I dabble in conspiracy and paranormal stories as entertainment. I have a fondness for aliens and parallel worlds and shadow people and all that shit. I was once a card carrying Art Bell junkie. I love the whole Jon Titor bit. I don’t remotely believe it but it’s fun to speculate in a way similar to NBA trade season.
That said this one has triple jumped a fire-breathing Sharknado. I was hoping for some sort of intrigue but NOPE.
This whole theory relies on people who are unwilling to accept that they have bad memories when it comes to pop culture. That’s it. The whole theory relies on people misremembering things and deducing that instead of the human memory being something less than the rolling film recorder they all think it is, CERN is changing our reality on a daily basis.
Is it:
-“Berenstein” Bears or “Berenstain” bears? -“Luke, I am your father” or “No, I am your father”? -Interview With “A” Vampire or Interview With “The” Vampire? -“Mirror , mirror” on the wall or “Magic mirror” on the wall”?
A lot of people are surprised by their answers.
I’ve watched videos where people called Jif peanut butter “jiffy” and that was the tipping point.
I just caught another where a woman’s tipping point was that the word “dilemma” is now spelled “dilemma” instead of her version, which was “dilena”.
Another one is “Depends”. The brand name is “Depend” and most people refer to them in plural, as “Depends” but that seems to be proof that we’re living in an alternate universe for some people.
I am not entertained. If you have a lazier crackpot theory, please share. This is my pick for the absolute worst.
8. "that's the name of it? my son got a p/t job in a grocery store, and he b..." In response to Reply # 0
asking his customers shit like this and messing their heads up. b/c he's bored. he was asking his sisters and my wife and i this a couple weeks ago.
if this a real thing (we getting replaced by pod ppl or something is altering our reality), how do we mount the resistance?
make a poast about the way we understand shit to be and hold fast to that as spellings and trademarks morph all around us? we should ask !uestlove what his thoughts are on this.
========================================= I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and not having much to show for it. (c) mad
I could have swore that the Italian composer died a few years ago as well as John Williams.
Then I read about them scoring Star Wars and Hateful 8
I know I read about their deaths and saw a tribute ..maybe the tribute was just that, a tribute even though they didnt die yet
I told some folks at work that made me think somehow I was in a parallel world lol..not appearing as some drastic sideys world but one where little things like this are different from the real one lol
11. "RE: 'Train in Vain' on London Calling." In response to Reply # 0
Wasn't on the tracklist of initial pressings because it was the very last song recorded for the album while the sleeves were already being printed. Yet, there are people who still swear it was left off the tracklisting at the insistence of the band because they felt the song was too pop sounding. Somehow, this didn't stop them from issuing it as a single later in the album's promotional cycle.
"I wasn't sure if I was lost or running away again. . ."
wild shit, same with the Berenstein Bears, I have a photographic memory and have exceptional recall when it comes to spelling. I remember having to correct kids for calling it the "Bernstein" Bears.
31. "Nah, this is something different" In response to Reply # 18
I admit when I'm wrong about shit all of the time, I really don't care about being right at all compared most people. I'm all about finding the best way and adopting it.
I have an incredible memory when it comes to visual things. I can remember the exact outfits girlfriends have worn to the point where they will look in their closet and find the items they didn't even remember they had. I can remember things like sequencer piano rolls and drum patterns for hundreds of beats that I've made. I suck at plenty of stuff but I have Sherlock Holmes like powers of observation and I especially remember how I was taught things and learning processes. I'm not saying I don't forget things because I do, but certain things really stick with me.
I looked at a bunch of the Mandela effect stuff, and a lot of it doesn't resonate with me(especially Mandela dying in prison) but I specifically remember being taught how to spell dilemna with an N, the Berenstein Bears with an E, "Luke, I am your father"(I'm old enough that we acted this out as kids) and a couple other examples.
I don't know what it all means, but I know it isn't selective memory on my part.
32. "That Darth Vader line simply sounds better. "Luke" is better than "No". " In response to Reply # 31
Berenstein just looks right. Berenstain just plain looks wrong.
Everyone quotes "Luke, I am your father" because that's how we hear everyone else say it.
Someone started saying it that way at one point and it spread, but everyone is just plain wrong. 99% of us are drawing that and other quotes like "mirror, mirror"from memories of other people saying the line. We're mimmicking flawed interpretations of other people, not source material from a Twilight Zone.
I don't think you have "selective" memory, I just know that you have an imperfect memory.
Your memory can be strong but there's no way it's 100% flawless. I've seen several of these videos where people cite specific memories and talk about how strong their own memory is, but people seem to be unwilling to accept that their memory either made a mistake or remembered a flawed presentation.
What it means is that your memory is imperfect. Strong, good, great, doesn't matter. It's not batting 1.000.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79607 posts
Fri Aug-26-16 09:12 AM
17. "do black people believe Mandela died in prison? " In response to Reply # 0
or is it just certain Black people..
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79607 posts
Fri Aug-26-16 09:43 AM
23. "my question is for Black people on OKP" In response to Reply # 19 Fri Aug-26-16 09:48 AM by legsdiamond
i remember it being STEIN and pronounced STEEN but its something that wasnt a big deal so maybe i misremembered...
but Mandela was a huge deal so its odd to hear people say they thought he died in prison.
thus, i want to know if any orher Black members thought he died in prison.
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
25. "For anyone who has the memory of him dying in prison," In response to Reply # 0
at what point did you realize that he didn't? Because in the couple videos I saw explaining this it wasn't until he actually died in 2013 that this started coming up as a topic. Basically when the news of his actual death hit there were a bunch of people who thought he had been dead since the 80's. That's weird as heck to me because the news of his release was so big at the time. Not to mention all of the 90's when he was president and when he did visits around the world. I remember him packing Tiger Stadium here in Detroit with one of those visits - it was a huge deal.
So those people with the false death memory also have no memories of everything Mandela did from his release through 2013 - that is so strange to me...
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79607 posts
Fri Aug-26-16 12:11 PM
27. "bruh this is why I asked if Black people thought he died" In response to Reply # 25
cause it was a big fucking deal in our house when he was freed.
he was also president for 5 years.
I think people prolly saw the Stephen Biko movie and thought it was Mandela cause we all look alike
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
Why is it that all of the "Mandela effect" memories tend to involve people NOT OF that culture or country?
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
40. "Because people don't have superhero-caliber memories and it's not real" In response to Reply # 29
>Why is it that all of the "Mandela effect" memories tend to >involve people NOT OF that culture or country?
People just don't have the flawless memories they think they do and many of the things they do correctly recall are the result of faulty misinterpretations of other flawed memories.
Further, the second people realize hey, there are all these other people who also misremember these things, they believe it validates their own flawed memories.
The Wordsmith Member since Aug 13th 2002 17070 posts
Fri Aug-26-16 05:56 PM
34. "I've always remembered "Berenstain" Bears." In response to Reply # 0
On days when I was bored, I would read my books and sometimes stare at various details such as the artwork, names, etc. As a result, I can remember not only seeing Berenstain on the covers but also pronouncing the name phonetically. I believe the cartoon even pronounced the name phonetically. Never knew folks called them the "Berenstein" Bears until recent times.
52. "You don't understand the concept then" In response to Reply # 48
Not saying I'm on board, but the idea is that in this dimension it would have always been "stain" but people who remember it being "stein" slipped over from a parallel dimension, where is was actually "stein".
50. "^^^^^this right here. People are simply too stubborn and prideful to adm..." In response to Reply # 49
That they simply misremembered things.
I think it's telling that apart from one major situation with Mandela- which I believe has a legit origin rooted in some sort of tabloid rumor- the vast majority of this "theory" hinges on things being spelled differently, slight differences in phrasing ("a" vs "the") and the occasional date mix up.
Its like when we KNOW we left our keys on the kitchen table and search frantically only to find them in a coat pocket or bathroom counter or something. Sadly, plenty of people still refuse to accept that that's where they put the keys. While they won't go so far as to openly say it was shadow people or some shit, these people hold fast to the notion that there's some other explanation afoot.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79607 posts
Mon Aug-29-16 09:40 AM
51. "yeah, we had jiffy in our kitchen sincd I was a kid" In response to Reply # 49
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
55. "I think I'm from another universe than everyone..." In response to Reply # 0
because I swore Mandela has already died BUT I thought he died after he became president. like he was president for some years, then he got sick and died, so when he died in 2013, I was also like "Wait, didn't he die already?"
The Berenstain bears thing...I chalked that up to ppl not reading correctly. I swear once ppl know how to read, they read what they want. Especially speed readers, they read by sight and prediction, so if they think they know what is going to be said next, they half ass read. We all do this.
A lot of quotes that ppl misquote ("Luke I am your father") that wigs me out, and I wonder if that's more because ppl who didn't see the movie, learned the quote from ppl who did and misquoted. And that many shows/movies perpetuate the incorrect quotes because they know thats what ppl know. and once they do see the movie, it still doesn't matter. This happens OFTEN on twitter, someone will misquote something said 5 min after it was said, and everyone rides with the wrong quote b/c they weren't paying attention to what to the show/movie OR they believe they are incorrect so they go with the masses.
57. "because all those parodies use the wrong quote too..." In response to Reply # 56
and that's what's super annoying. One person got it wrong and now it's ingrained in pop culture.
Also with the interview with a/the vampire. I swore it was "A" but then I went back through my tweets and saw that I had always wrote "the". and i was like "well they wouldn't change my tweets in this alternate universe would they?" lol.
60. "Exactly. And it makes sense - the parodies will say "Luke"" In response to Reply # 57
because if you are looking at the quote by itself that makes more sense. If you just hear "No, I am your father" without the context of the scene and what Vader was saying "No" to then it doesn't make sense. So parodies will say "Luke" and that's how most non-fans of Star Wars will remember it.
>A lot of quotes that ppl misquote ("Luke I am your father") >that wigs me out, and I wonder if that's more because ppl who >didn't see the movie, learned the quote from ppl who did and >misquoted.
65. "We covered that but thanks. " In response to Reply # 62
>that whole spiel by him starts with "Luke," then a bunch of >dialogue occurs and i think it's really just paraphrasing gone >viral... > >"Luke..., I am your father" > >i think it's just to replace the No tbh
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