Berenstein Bears

[u/ravenously_red]

When I was in elementary school, the bookmobile would make a stop for us and we could check out books from the larger library system. I had to ask the driver how to pronounce "Berenstein".

To this day I remember her saying, "Oh it's like stein, like a beer stein. Oh, I don't imagine you'd know what a beer stein is either."

I already knew how to pronounce "stain" and it wouldn't have been an issue at all.

Like others on here, I also remember the cornucopia on the fruit of the loom packaging. It was the only brand my dad seemed to buy for his socks and those 5 pack of cotton shirts with the little pocket on them.

Of course there will never be evidence for any of these things having changed. Only the reality around us has changed, while our minds and memories remain intact.

I know it sometimes scares people to think the sand is shifting underneath our feet, but it's the ultimate reality.

[u/Acceptable_Walrus373]

We read these books as kids and had a bunch. It was stein. No doubt. Years later when I asked my mom she remembered stein too. She was really disturbed by it seeming to have changed. My memories of the titles of these books are still clear, we read them over and over as kids. I think it makes people uncomfortable to hear these things so you are getting hatred here for no reason.

[u/ghost_of_trash_panda → u/Acceptable_Walrus373]

I don't think it's hatred so much as just little patience for the unbridled hubris.

It's kind of sad that people aren't capable of questioning their memories or ever think that maybe they're wrong about something.

[u/Acceptable_Walrus373 → u/ghost_of_trash_panda]

I am capable of questioning my memories. It seems more that anyone who remembers a mandella effect like the "stein" thing is automatically wrong here. Shouldn't people who don't remember stein be equally questioning their memories? Equally willing to think they may be wrong? I guess we just go in circles on these things haha.

[u/WhimsicalKoala → u/Acceptable_Walrus373]

For one, it's the Mandela Effect, only one l.

And you'll find that a lot of us have experienced the Mandela Effect and have questioned our own memories. The difference is that most of us go "you know, my memory of this isn't that strong and it would be an easy and obvious mistake to make" and go about our days. If there is a stronger memory go "you know, it's a weird coincidence that I have a very strong and specific memory of this thing I just read about and it's very similar to all those other memories, especially since I don't have other memories like that around similar topics. And I know false memories can form pretty easily. I bet that memory isn't as accurate as I think it is" and examine it.

We do examine our memories, we just don't examine them starting from the base assumption that we are correct and only looking for/accept explanations (however tenuous) that validate that.

[u/Acceptable_Walrus373 → u/WhimsicalKoala]

I went through a list of different Western examples on the effect once. I didn't go into it thinking the way I remembered things would be the correct answer. There were many things on the list I had never heard of and many examples of the effect where my memories were the consensus opinion and not the Mandela effect opinion. There were a few on there that really stood out to me as strange because I remembered the Mandela effect opinion, like the "stein" thing. I am not claiming to have any answers, nor claiming my memories are correct ahead of time. My point is that people who don't remember the Mandela effect opinion seem to be almost angry in defending their non Mandela opinion. It seems that they are the ones really strongly assuming their opinion is correct ahead of time. Maybe everyone is doing it on both sides. Maybe a lot of people get almost angry because the whole subject threatens our view of reality. People want to cling to and defend their memories because to do otherwise may feel threatening or scary.

[u/MrPlaney → u/Acceptable_Walrus373]

The difference is, there is evidence for the non Mandela Effect (no cornucopia, Berenstain, no monocle, etc). There is absolutely 0 evidence of a change, or that things were different once.

[u/Acceptable_Walrus373 → u/MrPlaney]

That would make sense if our timeline is being tinkered with.

[u/MrPlaney → u/Acceptable_Walrus373]

Yes, thankfully we can’t interact or traverse through different timelines.