.Have you heard of the Mandela Effect? It is something that everyone should know about. The Mandela Effect is a kind of mass delusion, a delusion in which large numbers of people share the same false memory. The Mandela Effect is named for Nelson Mandela. In the 1980s and 1990s, thousands of people claimed that they remembered hearing the news that Nelson Mandela had died in prison in South Africa. These people were scattered all over the world. Many of them said that they remembered exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news of Mandela’s death. However, Nelson Mandela did not die in prison. He was released from prison in 1990 and was elected president of South Africa in 1994. He died at home in 2013.

There are many websites that list examples of the Mandela Effect. My favorite is from the movie ‘Casablanca’. When people who have seen ‘Casablanca’ multiple times are asked “What was the most memorable line in the movie?”, the #1 answer is always “Play it again, Sam.” The #2 answer is “Drop the gun, Louie.” Neither of these lines are in the movie, but a lot of people distinctly remember hearing them in the movie. Below is a picture with some examples of the Mandela Effect. How many did you get wrong?

DONALD TRUMP AND 9/11.

In the case of some mass delusions, scientists have absolutely no explanation for it; however, in the case of most mass delusions, the reason for the delusion is the obvious one – repetition of a false story. In 2015, while running for president, Donald Trump said that while the World Trade Center was collapsing on 9/11, he: “watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down.” The governors of New York and New Jersey both quickly said that it did not happen; however, on the following day, Trump repeated his claim. He said: “It did happen. I saw it. It was on television. There were people who were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations.” Trump repeated this claim many times while he was president, but the story was a complete fiction. No one has ever produced a photo or any other evidence that Muslims anywhere in the U.S. celebrated on 9/11. Nevertheless, a survey conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 68% of U.S. conservatives and 25% of liberals believe that Muslims in the United States celebrated the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11, and many of them said that they remembered seeing it on television.

DONALD TRUMP VS. WIND TURBINES.
Another mass delusion believed by millions of Americans is that wind turbines cause cancer. Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the noise from wind turbines causes cancer. This claim has been extensively researched, and there is no evidence to support it. While he was president, Trump made it very clear that he does not like wind turbines. Trump also claimed that wind turbines destroy property values. He said: “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75% in value.” A national study by the Berkeley Lawrence Lab found no evidence that property values are affected by proximity to wind projects. He also claimed that wind is unreliable, and that people would lose their electricity when the wind isn’t blowing. Texas now gets over 20% of the state’s electricity from wind, and Iowa gets over 50%; but people in those states don’t lose their electricity when the wind isn’t blowing. However, Trump’s claims about the dangers of wind turbines are now widely believed in the U.S. When wind projects are proposed, sometimes hundreds of angry people show up at public hearings to protest against these projects out of fear that they will get cancer from living near wind turbines. Many wind projects have been rejected by local governments because of this opposition. I am not sure why Donald Trump is so hostile to wind turbines. I assume it is to get campaign donations from fossil fuel companies, but that’s only a guess.

BURN THE WITCHES!
Mass delusions are often preposterous, but they are not funny. They frequently have deadly consequences to them. Between 1500 and 1800, tens of thousands of people, mostly women, were executed for witchcraft in Europe and America. At witchcraft trials, it was common for people, sometimes many people, to testify that they personally witnessed an accused witch doing things that were impossible, such as setting a house on fire merely by looking at it or flying in the sky on a broomstick. The idea of a witch riding on a broomstick isn’t just something that Milton Hershey concocted in order to sell Halloween candy. Lots of people actually did claim at witchcraft trials that they saw an accused witch flying on a broomstick. That began in Germany in the 1450s, and this claim spread to other countries and continued for over 200 years.

WHY DON’T NOUNS IN ENGLISH HAVE GENDERS?
English is the only major European language that has no gender system. In English, everything is a ‘the.’ This is one of the reasons why English is a relatively easy language to learn. In most Latin-based languages, including French, Spanish, and Italian; there are 2 genders, male and female. German has 3 genders. In some Slavic languages, including Polish and Czech, there are 5 genders. Have you ever wondered why English has no noun genders?

English started out as a Germanic language, and like modern German, Old English had noun genders. However, after the Norman invasion in 1066, a lot of French and Latin words entered the English language, and that created a problem. French nouns also have genders, but French genders frequently don’t match the German genders. For example, consider the sun and the moon. In French, the sun is male ‘le soleil’, but in German, the sun is female ‘die Sonne.’ In French, the moon is female ‘la lune’, but in German, the moon is male ‘der Mond.’ The only way to solve this mess was to drop all the noun genders, and that began in the 12th century, not long after the Norman invasion. In order to speak some European languages, you have to learn the genders of hundreds or even thousands of nouns, and sometimes there is no obvious logic to it. For example, in German, a fork is female, a spoon is male, and a knife is neutral. Can you think of any rational reason why this should require 3 genders – or any genders at all.

WORST RENTAL APPLICATION EVER.I Have a Small Dog. A woman once called me on the phone and said: “I saw your ad. Your ad says you will allow a dog. I’d like to see your apartment.” I said: “What kind of dog do you have?” She said: “A German Shepherd.” I said: “I’m sorry. This is a very small apartment. My ad says that I will allow a dog but only if it weighs 25 pounds or less. ” She said: “My dog only weighs 15 pounds.” That left me confused. I said: “I don’t understand. German Shepherds weigh a lot more than 15 pounds.” She said: “Well, mine weighs 15 pounds. I weighed her just yesterday.” I said: “Would you email me a photo of your dog? I’d like to see what your dog looks like.” I knew something had to be wrong with this story. She said she would, and a few minutes later I got the photo. It turned out she was telling the truth. Her dog did look like it weighed about 15 pounds; however, what she failed to mention was that her dog was a puppy, maybe 1 or 2 months old. I thought about calling her back and asking her: “OK. Your dog does look like she weighs 15 pounds right now, but how long were you planning to stay here?” I didn’t do it. I just rented the place to somebody else.

I would appreciate your comments. If you want to comment on any article in this newsletter, you can do so at: Mark Tarses Newsletter