We are halfway through the year, 'tis time to accelerate our gears. Some ramp up towards our goals, July's here, for all to behold!

This month's issue had me doubting my memory true. Did it truly happen or not; therein lies the rhetoric knot.

Presenting, the Mandela Effect, with witnesses swearing their case xP

Originated in 2009 by paranormal writer and researcher Fiona Broome, the Mandela Effect is a phenomenon in which a group of people collectively distort facts, events, dates or any other phenomena in a consistently accurate way.

According to Broome, she had vividly recollected Mandela's false death during imprisonment in the 1980s. She even went further to recall his widow's speech and the riots in some cities. She refused to believe and acknowledge his presence upon learning he was alive. Nelson Mandela passed away in 2013.

A chance encounter in 2009 with a security staff during a scifi and fantasy convention gave Broome the opportunity to learn that she wasn't alone with her false memories and there were others who remembered the news coverage of Mandela's death and the resulting aftermath--which inturn led her to create her website to discuss the phenomenon she coined as the Mandela Effect.

Struck by the similarities, thousands of people shared memories that were different from reality, leading to the Mandela Effect going viral, becoming an internet sensation and inspiring a film titled The Mandela Effect (2019).

Potential causes for the Mandela Effect could be:

- when the details coincide with their expectations of the image. For eg, the false belief that the Monopoly Man wears a monocle may infer from the fact that the eyepiece looks like an appropriate accessory for the character.

- Confabulation, a tendency of the brain to fill in gaps in memory by unconsciously adding incorrect information, leading to people unknowingly remembering details that might seem to fit with the situation, but are truly false.

- Other theories evaluated are not grounded in mainstream science and psychology.

Even though Broome made no assertions, she stubbornly rejected the theory that the Mandela effect resulted from false memories and referenced parallel realities, alternate histories, and other unconventional theories in her science fiction explanations. This has triggered lots of untested hypotheses including the phenomenon occuring as a result of string theory and the mixing of different universes.

Here are some well-known examples:

- In Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back, do you remember Darth Vader uttering the famous line, "Luke, I am your father" in the pivotal scene near the end of the film?

Well, it might be a surprise to learn that the line was actually, "No, I am your father."

Most people have memories of the line being the former rather than the latter, and it is commonly quoted incorrectly.

- And who can forget the line in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

As the above subtitled screenshot shows, the line actually began with the phrase "Magic mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?".

It probably doesn't help matters that Julia Roberts and Lily Collins starred in a 2012 live-action film based on Snow White called "Mirror Mirror"!

- "Casablanca", one of the most famous films of all-time, is remembered decades later, for an iconic, memorable line, even if many haven't watched the movie. Nonetheless, "Play it again, Sam." is a familiar line oft-repeated.

That line was never actually said in the exact way in the film. Ingrid Bergman's character, however says, "Play it once, Sam."

Probably the confusion could be due to the fact Woody Allen made a film "Play It Again, Sam" in 1972 about a film critic obsessed with "Casablanca".

I recommend these novels:

- Someone Like Me by M.R. Carey:

A naïve divorced mother of two faces the darkest parts of herself in this heart-stopping thriller from the author of USA Today bestseller, The Girl With All the Gifts.

- Version Control by Dexter Palmer:

https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Version_Control.html?id=9_-MEAAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

Although Rebecca Wright has pieced her life back together after a major tragedy, she can't shake a sense that the world around her feels off-kilter. Meanwhile, her husband's dedication to his invention, "the causality violation device" (which he would greatly prefer you not call a time machine) has effectively stalled his career—but he may be closer to success than either of them can possibly imagine. Emotionally powerful and wickedly intelligent, Version Control is a stunningly prescient novel about the effects of science and technology on our lives, our friendships, and our sense of self that will alter the way you see the future—and the present.

- Dark Matter by Blake Crouch:

Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

"Are you happy with your life?"

- The Rook by Daniel O'Malley:

"The body you are wearing used to be mine."

So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any Wattpad stories based on the Mandela Effect 😦 Feel free to recommend your favourites in the inline comments here-->

I conclude this article with the hope and certainty that I've truly written it and it's definitely not an illusion, even though my alter-ego might think otherwise.

We'll meet in August with an article new. Love you and take care! ❤️

Cheers, Nab =]

Nablai