Raining_Roses
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I love a good conspiracy theory. Some are clearly the work of smoking too much Mary Jane or a paranoiac personality disorder, but some have (a little) credence, such as Covid-mania.
One that has caught my attention lately is the Mandela Effect. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s where a large number of people believe an event occurred when it didn’t, such as the population of people that believed Nelson Mandela died in the 80’s-90’s, when in fact he only died in 2013. Often the ‘false memory’ is complex- some remember newspaper stories of his death or newsflashes. The most common Mandela Effects are spellings, such as Bernstain vs Bernstein bears (which I’d never heard of- must be a U.S thing!) or misinformation, such as the location of New Zealand (a large number of people, including myself, thought New Zealand was north-east of Australia, when in fact it’s south-east). The term was coined by Fiona Broome, who discovered that a number of people, including herself, believed Nelson Mandela died in the 80’s in prison.
I was one of those that thought Nelson Mandela died in the 90’s, shortly after he became President of South Africa. I even remember seeing his funeral on the news and Winnie Mandela being referred to as his widow. It was about 10 years later that I found out he was actually alive.
Another is John Goodman. Both my mother and I were big fans of Roseanne and I remember when it ended, both of us were hoping it would make a comeback, then I read in a newspaper that John Goodman had died of a heart attack. I even remember the conversation with her- it was a Sunday morning and I was reading The News of The World. It was about a half a page story and when I told her, she teared up. She’d had a crush on him, as he reminded her of my stepfather who had died years earlier. I even recall when there was gossip that Roseanne was making a comeback that they were going to write his death in as Dan having a heart attack off screen. But alas- he was alive and well, making more movies and returning to Roseanne, and there was no mention at all of him ‘dying’ ever again!
Believers will tell you it’s a glitch in the matrix; a changing of timelines. However, false memories are complex phenomenon and can occur for multiple reasons. When I believed that Nelson Mandela had died, I was teenager-young adult and couldn’t have given less of a shite about political affairs. It could have easily been someone else’s funeral I tagged on to Nelson Mandela. But I can still see Winnie Mandela in my head, bawling and the newsreader referring to her as his widow.
And John Goodman’s death…well, I only have a few words to explain that one- The News of the World! That paper was the grand-daddy of misinformation!
There are pages dedicated to believers of The Mandela Effect, all with their own stories, so what’s yours?
One that has caught my attention lately is the Mandela Effect. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s where a large number of people believe an event occurred when it didn’t, such as the population of people that believed Nelson Mandela died in the 80’s-90’s, when in fact he only died in 2013. Often the ‘false memory’ is complex- some remember newspaper stories of his death or newsflashes. The most common Mandela Effects are spellings, such as Bernstain vs Bernstein bears (which I’d never heard of- must be a U.S thing!) or misinformation, such as the location of New Zealand (a large number of people, including myself, thought New Zealand was north-east of Australia, when in fact it’s south-east). The term was coined by Fiona Broome, who discovered that a number of people, including herself, believed Nelson Mandela died in the 80’s in prison.
I was one of those that thought Nelson Mandela died in the 90’s, shortly after he became President of South Africa. I even remember seeing his funeral on the news and Winnie Mandela being referred to as his widow. It was about 10 years later that I found out he was actually alive.
Another is John Goodman. Both my mother and I were big fans of Roseanne and I remember when it ended, both of us were hoping it would make a comeback, then I read in a newspaper that John Goodman had died of a heart attack. I even remember the conversation with her- it was a Sunday morning and I was reading The News of The World. It was about a half a page story and when I told her, she teared up. She’d had a crush on him, as he reminded her of my stepfather who had died years earlier. I even recall when there was gossip that Roseanne was making a comeback that they were going to write his death in as Dan having a heart attack off screen. But alas- he was alive and well, making more movies and returning to Roseanne, and there was no mention at all of him ‘dying’ ever again!
Believers will tell you it’s a glitch in the matrix; a changing of timelines. However, false memories are complex phenomenon and can occur for multiple reasons. When I believed that Nelson Mandela had died, I was teenager-young adult and couldn’t have given less of a shite about political affairs. It could have easily been someone else’s funeral I tagged on to Nelson Mandela. But I can still see Winnie Mandela in my head, bawling and the newsreader referring to her as his widow.
And John Goodman’s death…well, I only have a few words to explain that one- The News of the World! That paper was the grand-daddy of misinformation!
There are pages dedicated to believers of The Mandela Effect, all with their own stories, so what’s yours?
