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I’ve spoken in the past about listening (which, unfortunately, I never finished). If you pay attention to politics (and, probably to a greater extent, religion), then you must be well aware of how important it is. Yet, at the same time, you are not. Many people are pulled into a certain religion or political view from an early age. This is especially true in certain Churches, where that Church pushes a certain viewpoint from a person’s birth. Anything else is called “evil” and the child is told it is to be shunned. It’s similar in certain politically inclined households. In both cases, I’m not singling out a certain Church or political view for any particular viewpoint, but most provide examples: Evangelicals are as guilty as Baptists because they only listen to themselves Catholics are as guilty as Orthodox because they only listen to themselves Extreme feminists are as guilty as white male supremicists because they only listen to themselves Democrats are as guilty as Republicans because they only listen to themselves (and I'm a Democratic Chair, so I know I might get in trouble for saying this. Screw it. My life has been about truth.) All in the political and religious realms are just as guilty although in different ways. In most cases, this has spread into the social realm, especially since the advent of social media. As I considered how to write this blog, I knew I needed a great example of how failure to listen causes problems. I’ve already blogged about the willful ignorance of Clinton voters in 2016, but I didn’t want to delve into religion. So, I took another route: a bizarre phenomenon that paranormal enthusiasts latch onto called “the Mandela effect”. First, I’ll tell you what the Mandela effect actually is. It has to do with two facts: 1) that the mind can’t always process information into long term memory, and 2) we don’t always get the information we need to understand something. When it’s confronted with either of these situations, it tries to fill in the blank. The only way for the memory to do this is to grab a memory or two, or even three, that are similar, take some elements from them, and make up some truth. Since most people see all the same facts, many people have the same false memory. For example, there was a movie Shaquille O’Neill did Called Kazaam, in which he played a genie. Many people remember this as Sinbad, not Shaq. A study discovered that almost all those surveyed had seen a 1993 movie version of the story of Sinbad in which one character wore an outfit almost identical to that worn by Shaq in Kazaam. The Mandela Effect in full bloom. Here’s what some claim the Mandela effect is: jumping timelines. They take it as proof that we jump from timeline to timeline, and that we can change our reality. If that were true, I would have been a megastar soccer player who led Team USA to three World Cups. I actually have a bad knee and have watched almost every game of the World Cup Finals since USA ’94. Another case is the song “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie. The lyric has always gone, “Tomorrow/Tomorrow/I’ll love you tomorrow/You’re always a day away”. This is, and has always been, the correct line. But many claim the lyric is, “You’re only a day away”. This is taken as proof of “jumping timelines”. The truth: It was deliberately changed for the movie because it made more sense to the production crew, and many more see movies than on-stage productions. I know people who believe in the Mandela effect, and I’ve noticed something about most of them: They have a tendency to want to make the world as they will. Their interpretation--jumping timetracks--is just an excuse to make it seem like they can do exactly that, but on a grander scale. There are a number of things believers in the supernatural have a valid argument for, but their interpretation of the Mandela effect is ridiculous. Two other examples of the Mandela Effect: People claim the Shell Oil logo, a shell, has "mysteriously vanished" from the overhangs. They were actually removed or replaced, starting in 2014. The Mona Lisa is claimed to have never been smiling. The truth is that da Vinci mastered a shading technique called "sfumato", which allows the viewer to see her smiling or not, depending on how far away the viewer stands. It was not his first success at the technique, having used it in La Bella Principia . Here's an article about the discovery from 2015. (Note: It's disputed that da Vinci painted La Bella Principia, but I don't see how it wasn't him since the same technique was used.) The Mandela effect was named after Nelson Mandela, whom many claim remember dying in jail in 1988. Of course, he died in 2016. This seems to come from Winnie Mandela’s 1991 conviction in the 1988 kidnapping of four youths, one of whom died. Nelson was very vocal about her innocence, but since he was in jail at the time of the incident, there is no valid memory of him being with Winnie prior to her conviction. The Mandela effect could easily create a false memory that Nelson Mandela had died. In each of these cases, the evidence is being ignored in favor of "jumping timelines". This, as I've mentioned above, is only listening to themselves--the proverbial "echo chamber". The proof is there, open for anyone to find, such as the links I've provided. But, instead, adherents reject it without consideration. Christians label things as evil because it doesn't agree with what they believe Republicans call anything that disagree with what they believe Communist or Nazi Clinton 2016 supporters called anyone who openly said they were voting for anyone else a racist or misogynist Conspiracy theorists accuse anyone who tries to explain the truth of being part of a cover-up (which I'm sure this blog will receive) With this in mind, my next blog will be about how some words have been falsely equated. What’s the difference between a reason and an excuse? Between a movie and a film? Between black and African-American? Most importantly, what’s the difference between Communism and socialism? The answers to these are answers that have been forgotten in America. Talk to ya then.

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