We are all familiar with the concept of The Mandela Effect, and more than a few of us have fallen victim to it. The site Simply Psychology defines this phenomenon as "a popular and heavily debated type of false memory. It refers to the situation in which many people thought that an event occurred when it did not."
Common examples include the false recollection that The Berenstain Bears were actually The Berenstein Bears and that Oscar Mayer was spelled as "Meyer", the Star Wars quote "Luke, I am your father", or the famous "mirror, mirror, on the wall" quote. Perhaps the most famous of all, however, is about a collective memory we have about a film that NEVER EXISTED.
The origin of this term and the phenomenon it describes began back in 2009 when a woman named Fiona Broome attended a conference and was talking to other attendees about the death of Nelson Mandela in the 1980's while in a South African prison.
The only problem is that Mandela did not die in prison in the 1980's. He died in his home in 2013. Nevertheless, she and others had very distinct and clear memories of news coverage following his "death", and even a speech given by his widow.
Like this false memory about Nelson Mandela, there never was a movie called "Shazaam!" where Sinbad portrayed a magic genie. This has come as a shock in social media circles, once again, and it never stops being funny.
We totally remember the movie with Shaquille O'Neal, too!
RIGHT??
It's time for the tin foil hats, folks. This is not a drill. We repeat, this is NOT a drill!
Not everyone has succumbed to this phenomenon, though. Plenty of naysayers can be found on X.
Some explanations of this effect require a functional knowledge of quantum physics and string theory, which we obviously won't get into here, but it's a fascinating rabbit hole if you're so inclined.
Where do you stand? Do you share these memories?
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