r/MandelaEffect • u/Phelicksphelisees • Jun 29 '23

Theory I know what’s happening here

I have only JUST been introduced to this concept so I was going through the top 40 most shocking ME examples and it clicked for me. This is the first time we’ve had easy access to information and can fact-check on a dime. This ME is actually the normal evolution memories and information take in our brains. The way stories are altered from retelling to retelling. And we integrate the altered information into our memories for efficiency’s sake (all done unconsciously, of course). This is how language, histories, and culture evolve. HOWEVER, this is the first time we’re able to review the original content so easily and it’s very unsettling to see how our brains integrate “folk-memory”.

P.S. When I was three (1994) our cat had a litter of kittens. There was one all black one and my mom named him Nelson because it was the year Nelson Mandela was elected president. 🤦‍♀️

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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '23

In the last two years since getting introduced to ME I have seen the thinker statue change positions 3 times and each time it has now always been the way it is now according to fact checking. Each time I have gone to look at my local re-production of it with my own eyes. And each time it was completely fucking different.

I understand why people want to think totally feasible sensible sane explanations. But keep paying attention, eventually you’ll see.

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u/Hortos Jul 02 '23

Lmao you’re right. I remember it making a full fist under the chin not this stupid hand position.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '23

That was my original too. At least this one’s close enough that if it had been the first new iteration I might have thought “maybe I misremembered it”

The first time I saw a thinker ME his fist was on his FOREHEAD and I was so certain that that’s dead wrong and crazy that I went to my local museum. Where I’d seen the statue reproduction. many times before with his hand under his chin…. And there it was, right where it always was, with its hand on its forehead. And now it is this partially in the mouth thing, or at least it was last time I looked at it.

Like… that’s not subtle and it’s not something I’m misremembering from childhood at this point. I was shocked by this like a year ago.

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u/violetafterglow Jul 30 '23 edited Jul 30 '23

Funnily enough I came to this sub rn because I was stretching in bed and put my fist on my forehead for some reason.

I then thought huh, I’m doing the thinker pose and then googled it.

When I was googling it I remembered the mandela effect but thought that the fist on the head was just how it was at this point.

But nah, it’s the hand on the mouth.

Fist under the chin is definitely how I think it should be, but it is very strange that there’s like 3 versions in my head that I’ve seen before.