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AIBU?

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Original poster

to not get the Mandela effect when it comes to Nelson Mandela

159 replies

cakeorwine · 27/03/2022 20:49

People thinking he died in prison...

His leaving house arrest was a big news event.
Winning the Nobel Peace Prize
The first elections after apartheid
Becoming President.
Presenting the Rugby World Cup to the winning South African team in South Africa
His death in 2013

All massive news events.

I get some people thinking certain people had died before they had and misremembering other stuff and events...

But thinking Nelson Mandela had died in jail in the 80s....Seriously?
Meeting the Queen
His death and funeral in

OP posts:
StartupRepair · 28/03/2022 21:13

Lol at explanations that Mandela was so famous he met the Spice Girls! He was one of the towering figures of the 20th century.

Original poster
cakeorwine · 28/03/2022 21:20

@StartupRepair

Lol at explanations that Mandela was so famous he met the Spice Girls! He was one of the towering figures of the 20th century.
You don't think that people already know that...there might be some sarcasm in those comments .

Just as when Ground Force did his garden over...

OP posts:
LolaLouLou · 28/03/2022 21:42

I still feel that Walkers packaging is all wrong. Intact, I would go as far as saying that cheesecrisps tastes 'green' and vinegar crisps tastes 'blue'.

All I can think I'd thar as a child of the 80s, my diet consisted of a lot of boiled potatoes, boiled veg and meat or fish. Not much flavour . Also,apart from 'club bars' and kitkats,food I ate was not really packaged. To be fair to my mum, she made lovely home made cakes and puddings

Maybe these crisps had quite distinctive flavours and a memory stuck. Not of walker crisps, but crisps, in green/blue packaging.

ToInverness · 28/03/2022 21:57

I can confirm I was being sarcastic about him meeting the spice girls ... but I also do think it is an example of why I find it hard to believe anyone could think he died in the 80s ... i was a child in the 90s and he was everywhere! School assemblies about apartheid, pictures of him with the spice girls in magazines, people getting the day off school to join the crowds trying to get a glimpse of him visiting London. You didn't need any interest in foreign affairs to realise he was not dead.

CharityShopChic · 29/03/2022 09:09

Maybe these crisps had quite distinctive flavours and a memory stuck. Not of walker crisps, but crisps, in green/blue packaging.

Exactly. And those crisps would have been KP, Smiths or Golden Wonder, or another smaller brand which used blue for salt and vinegar, and green for cheese and onion. Growing up in Scotland, I'd never heard of Walkers crisps until about 1990. Wikipedia tells me that in 1989 Walkers was bought by Pepsi, and at that point the Smiths brand was dropped for many products and with the weight of the Pepsi brand behind them, they started advertising more.

People are remembering 80s crisps in a blue packet being salt and vinegar. And misremembering that it was Walkers.

MargosKaftan · 29/03/2022 19:22

OP - I think reading your posts you seem to think because the term "Mandela effect " was coined when someone was talking about remembering him dying in prison in the 00s, that they had thought he was dead up to that point and didn't know about the whole being the president, meeting spice girls, being friends with the Queen and the lot post 1990. But they did know these things happened.

They knew he was alive in the 90s. They also knew they remembered him dying in prison. Its that collective false memory that's so interesting. Few of the people who have that false memory also didn't hear about him since. That's what's so confusing about it. Of course they are wrong in that memory, what's interesting is so many people having the same false memory about the same thing that was in no way related to their lives.

Original poster
cakeorwine · 29/03/2022 19:30

Of course they are wrong in that memory, what's interesting is so many people having the same false memory about the same thing that was in no way related to their lives

Did they think that Mandela himself had died?
Or do you think they just made a mistake?

OP posts:
Original poster
cakeorwine · 29/03/2022 19:33

@MargosKaftan

If someone thought he was dead - because that's their memory, then they can't really also know he was alive if they thought he was dead.

Once they realised he was alive, then surely a memory in their brain would have 'said' hang on, I thought he was dead.

OP posts:
LBFseBrom · 29/03/2022 19:46

I've never known anyone think he died in prison. He would hardly have been President of South Africa from behind bars, and married the widow of the President of Zaire.

Honestly 🙄.

MargosKaftan · 29/03/2022 19:51

Many people reported believing 100% they had seen news reports he was dead. Most didn't continue to think he was dead after seeing him walk from prison/become the president - although there was a rumour it wasn't the same man and he had died / been killed and replaced, but most were drawn to this from a stance of "i remember something clearly that cant have happened, so why do I have this memory?" And the shock that so many people have the same false memory !

The most likely is for some reason lots of people misinterpreted a news report about him as a death report. Or maybe even a news paper incorrectly published a story of his death (but you'd think that would have been shown up by now). The whole 'parallel universe where he is dead' idea seems bonkers to me, but what is most interesting is I dont think all these people are lying about having the same false memory. And it doesn't seem to have happened on a mass scale with anything else.

Singlebutmarried · 29/03/2022 19:58

@OmgIThinkILikeYou

I don't care what anyone or any 'proof' says, Britney Spears absolutely used to have a headset in the Oops I Did It Again video. No I am not thinking of her stage performances, she had it on in the video.
I will back you on this. It’s the sole reason my walk around headset for work is called ‘my Britney’
MargosKaftan · 29/03/2022 20:03

Oh actually OP - have you mixed up what the Mandela Effect actually refers to? It's not lots of people believing he died in prison and therefore not believing he was president of SA, being international treasure afterwards - it refers to people who know they have a memory that can't be true.

They remember seeing reports of his death. They also remember seeing him walk out of prison some years later alive and well. They understand these two things can't have happened and yet they remember both.

fourofwands · 29/03/2022 20:10

I've never taken a lot of notice of Britney but I can picture a video where she's wearing a red catsuit and has a headset microphone. Is that the missing headset?

Userg1234 · 29/03/2022 20:20

Radio 4 did a programme on this a few years ago....but concentrated on a 1980s video film called shazam....not to confused with the recent super hero film. Several hundred people claimed to have watched this film about a genie, even naming the stars and describing the same scenes...all saying the same thing!
One guy claimed to have worked in a video shop and rented the film out...
Later the stars made a spoof of it.youtube shaman 1980s movie

MargosKaftan · 29/03/2022 20:28

@Userg1234

Radio 4 did a programme on this a few years ago....but concentrated on a 1980s video film called shazam....not to confused with the recent super hero film. Several hundred people claimed to have watched this film about a genie, even naming the stars and describing the same scenes...all saying the same thing! One guy claimed to have worked in a video shop and rented the film out... Later the stars made a spoof of it.youtube shaman 1980s movie
Oh my thats quite freaky! The Mandela thing could be explained with a news channel putting out a wrong bulletin that he'd died, or a report on the free Mandela concert being mistaken for a memorial concert, but a whole film and several people having the same fake memory?! Oh thats creepy.
WomanStanleyWoman · 29/03/2022 20:30

I find the Shazam example fascinating. For anyone who hasn’t heard of it, the film apparently started a comedian called Sinbad, who used to be in ‘A Different World’ (a Cosby Show spin-off). He has confirmed several times the film doesn’t exist - he’s even provided a lot of evidence for why people are confused - but still people argue it’s real. They even try to claim that he’s had the film ‘suppressed’ somehow because he’s ashamed of it.

The only other thing Sinbad is famous for is being hit with a seven-figure tax bill in the 90s. I can’t help thinking that, if he’s powerful enough to have something entirely wiped from history, he probably should have chosen the tax bill.

WomanStanleyWoman · 29/03/2022 20:32

but a whole film and several people having the same fake memory?! Oh thats creepy.

A film with the exact same plot, called Kaazam, was made in 1994. It actually starred Shaquille O’Neal, not Sinbad. However, Sinbad appeared in a series of commercials playing a genie, which is why people are so convinced they can picture him in the role.

Original poster
cakeorwine · 29/03/2022 21:22

Oh actually OP - have you mixed up what the Mandela Effect actually refers to? It's not lots of people believing he died in prison and therefore not believing he was president of SA, being international treasure afterwards - it refers to people who know they have a memory that can't be true

I haven't said they don't believe he wasn't President.

I know that it refers to people hearing at some point that Nelson Mandela was alive - they heard this at some point such as when he left prison, when he became President, when he actually died or some other newsworthy event - and thinking to themselves 'that's strange, I could have sworn he died in the 80s' - so they recognise they have a false memory.

My point is - if they realised their mistake when he was released from prison, then maybe that's reasonable.

But if they realised their mistake much later, then that means they can't have been paying attention as he achieved so many things in his life that were in the news.

OP posts:
Original poster
cakeorwine · 29/03/2022 21:24

They remember seeing reports of his death. They also remember seeing him walk out of prison some years later alive and well. They understand these two things can't have happened and yet they remember both

The question is - do they remember the reports of his death - or do they remember reports of someone's death and got confused?

OP posts:
MargosKaftan · 29/03/2022 22:00

we only know the Mandela Effect is a thing because so many people did realise their mistake and talked about it.

Original poster
cakeorwine · 29/03/2022 22:13

@MargosKaftan

we only know the Mandela Effect is a thing because so many people did realise their mistake and talked about it.
I know.

The point of the OP is - when did they realise their mistake.

If they realised their mistake at the time of his release, then that's one thing.

If they realised their mistake much later, and had somehow missed all the stuff in the news about him, all the key events in his life - and then at some point much later, heard something about him (such as him dying) and then realising their mistake, that's something else. As in how did it take you so long to realise your mistake...

Which is the point of the OP

OP posts:
JudgeJ · 29/03/2022 22:43

@FriNightBlues

Surely everyone remembers the episode of Only Fools and Horses where he turned up to open Nelson Mandela House?
No, not everyone, I've never seen an episode of this ghastly programme, seen snippets at my mother's house and that was enough. Tin hat at the ready!
stonebrambleboy · 29/03/2022 22:53

Does anyone remember Spangles?

Badgerforbreakfast · 29/03/2022 23:15

Like another poster I also had this with Oscar Pistorius. Was certain I'd heard he'd died in prison.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 30/03/2022 00:08

Yes stone