Sharon McMahon, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
-Thank you. -You have
one of the most interesting Instagram accounts out there
because it's not popular because of, uh,
the, you know, destinations that are being listed.
It's not popular because of thirst traps.
It's not popular because of memes.
It is popular because
you give people facts.
That seems ludicrous,
and maybe five years ago, someone would have said,
"Why would anyone have an Instagram account
where all they're doing is sharing facts?"
But that is what you do. And the last time I checked,
you have something over half a million subscribers,
and that number keeps jumping up and jumping up and jumping up.
Let's start at the beginning.
Why on earth would you start a fact-based Instagram account?
(laughs) Well, you know,
it's not my incredible sweater collection
that is interesting to people.
You know, I have been a high school teacher for a long time,
and I started noticing an incredible amount--
Trevor, maybe you've noticed this--
an incredible amount of misinformation
circulating on the Internet.
And it was one of those things where I just was...
You know, like, I would...
My face would just get closer to the screen,
and I was like, "What is even happening?
Where-where does this come from?"
So, I just started making
some little videos about facts,
and apparently, facts are missing.
And facts are popular right now.
What do you think it is about these videos
that engages with people so much?
I mean, surely, people can just get facts out there.
Why do you think that they're attracted to your videos,
and what keeps them engaged?
I honestly don't think
people believe they can gets facts.
That is really the crux of the matter,
is they don't understand where to get facts.
They don't know who to trust.
They feel like they're getting played every day.
-Right. -And it's like a game of Survivor.
Like, I don't know what the person's motivation is.
-Yes. -I don't know if they're trying to swindle me.
You know what I mean? Like, there is just...
They're afraid of getting played.
And I think when they, you know,
maybe saw that I, you know, am not a politician,
I don't work for some big company,
I literally am just a teacher,
um, that has just resonated with some people.
It's resonated with them, but, I mean, it's interesting
that you haven't been dragged into anything,
because, you know, facts,
whether we like to admit it or not,
can become a contentious, um, conversation starter these days.
You know, uh, like some of... some of the first videos
of yours that I saw, which were really impressive,
that people loved, were the ones that were about QAnon.
And, I mean, you were stepping into the fray with QAnon,
debunking QAnon myths,
and you had people on your page saying,
"Hey, I believed in QAnon, and then I watched these videos.
Now I don't believe in QAnon."
But, now, my question to you is
how do you do that
without getting dragged into the fray?
Because oftentimes, being for facts
means that you're against somebody at some point.
Yeah. That, you know, that is a question
I ask myself every day. (laughs)
You know, like, I almost feel like,
"when is the other shoe gonna drop?" sometimes.
Like, when is...
When are the throngs going to come for me?
-Right. -That is a thought that I have had, for sure.
Um, I think part of it
is just that I really work hard to stay respectful.
I really work hard to stay respectful,
to not make fun of people,
to honor the fact that there are a variety of viewpoints
and that, you know, I'm not here to try
to convince you of my one perfect viewpoint.
-NOAH: Right. -McMAHON: That's really...
That's the only answer I have.
I honestly don't... I don't...
I'm-I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop in some ways.
So, when-when you're doing the work,
you're digging and getting the information,
and you're putting together the facts,
you have to do the same thing for QAnon.
You have to do the research. How do you not get sucked into
the QAnon conspiracies that you've debunked?
Because, I mean, some of them are really convincing.
Clearly, people get sucked in. So how do you
not get sucked into the things that are nonfactual?
Yeah. You know, that...
The QAnon research is...
That is some of the most interesting
and also disturbing things
-I have ever... Yes. -I can imagine, yeah.
Um, it's like information you don't even really want to know.
-(laughs) -You know? Like, like,
I don't even know if I want to know this.
Um, so, the re... The way I don't get sucked into it
is that I have all of this education and experience
about what the constitution actually says.
And I've, you know, I've been teaching the constitution
and the... and government for so many years that...
And I've read the constitution so many times,
I know what's in it and what's not.
And it's very easy for me to say, like,
"Actually, there is no second constitution."
-(laughs) -You know what I mean?
Like, "Actually, that's not real."
Uh, the United States is not a corporation
that was sold to London in the 1800s.
You know, it's just very easy for me to tease out
what is real and what's not.
-Right. -And I'm sure it's because of my education
and experience in... on this topic.
It feels like we live in an age now
where there is a, you know, there's a birth of information.
I mean, it's everywhere. But figuring out
how to sift through the information
is something that we lack.
And that is what I've always thought teachers do,
is they bring you into this-this room
where they help you sift through information
as you are growing up through life.
As a teacher, what do you think
some of the challenges have been in teaching people things?
Because people come in with preconceived notions
of everything, and then you have to teach them,
which means you have to unteach them.
Yes, this is the average American today.
My experience has been that they have a very difficult time
distinguishing between a lie and bias.
-They believe that those two things are the same. -Huh.
They perceive-- Let's say they watch one of your videos,
Trevor, where you are, you know, um, going after Tucker Carlson.
-Right. -Just for example.
They-- That-That's obviously a biased point of view,
and that is a point of view that you are more than free to hold.
They're free to hold a different point of view, right?
-Right. -But-but at the core
of say a video you may have made on that
are actual clips of things he has said,
actual facts about where he's gone to school.
-Right. -So you have a biased lens about the facts.
And so does every human.
-Ah. Okay. Right. -So does every human.
This is not a dig on you in any way.
We all have our own bias
that we are looking through at a variety of topics.
People don't realize that.
They see a video like yours, if they are conservative,
and they think, "Well, he's just a liar."
They don't understand
that there's a difference between a bias and a lie.
-Right, right, right. -And so they are unable to engage
with biased information
that doesn't align with their viewpoint.
-Huh. -Make sense?
-So if they... -That-that makes a lot of sense. Yeah.
They look at a CNN article and it's about,
let's say, uh, Trump's tax returns,
they see that, "Well, they just hate Trump.
They are just out to get him."
-Right. -And they immediately discount the information,
when the information is based on a factual Supreme Court ruling.
-Right, right, right. -And that's what I'm finding,
is that I need to spend a lot of time educating
on the difference between bias and lie.
It feels like this is a great time to you,
and I think that's why you've been so successful.
I mean, everything from Ted Cruz's trip to,
you know, what's happening in Texas,
uh, you know, all the way through to, as you said,
the Constitution and QAnon,
you tackle a range of subjects
and you-- and you-you present it in a form
that's easy to digest and people really enjoy.
My question then to you is, where do you get your facts?
My goal every day is to read five to ten news sources
from across the spectrum.
So I am reading everything from, you know,
the far-right news to, like, the more extreme liberal news.
Um, when a story is of interest,
let's say the most recent thing about, you know,
Ted Cruz going to Mexico,
I always make a point of looking for that specific story
-from a variety of viewpoints. -Mm-hmm.
Always falling back to primary sources.
-(laughs) -You know what I mean?
Like, the jour-- Journalism 101.
I’m not a journalist. But that's--
If you can find it in the Constitution,
if you can find it in the actual text of the law,
if you can find the actual document,
falling back to those is always key as much as I'm--
as much as possible.
Before I let you go, you've also used your platform
to help people in need,
and, you know, you've been big
in getting group philanthropy going
and getting a lot of your-your viewers or your followers
to-to join in and help, um, worthy efforts.
Most recently, you went after medical debt,
something that a lot of people are struggling through
right now, especially because of COVID.
Talk me through that and what you've been doing
and what you've been able to achieve.
I decided to partner with an organization
called RIP Medical Debt, which is a 501(c)(3) organization,
and what they do is they buy medical debt
and they forgive it.
And because they buy huge chunks of medical debt at a time,
they're able to get massive discounts on it.
So, in five days, my community raised
over $560,000 for this organization,
which will forgive $56 million of medical debt.
-Wow. -I mean, that is the definition
of social media being used for good.
-Right. -For crowdsourcing help for people who need it.
You're doing an amazing job.
Um, I can see why you're so popular.
And, uh, hopefully it goes from 500,000 followers
to a million to two million and so on, because, uh,
in a world with facts,
maybe we can get to a place where we agree on reality
and then we just get to fight about what we think
-about that reality, which is the bias. -Yes.
A-Ag-- 100% agree.
Let's agree on facts,
and then we can fight about real facts.
-Yes. I love that. -Yes. Yes.
Thank you so much for joining me on the show.
-Thank you so much. Yes. -Take care.