My Summer Lair Chapter #326: What’s Fact And What’s Fiction And What’s Big…If True?
I dunno if Mark Twain said it but you know that classic line:
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its pants.”
The funny thing about that common expression is it pre-dates the internet. It’s more true now than when it was issued in 17…whatever year.
We are living in a moment where information moves Speedy Gonzales fast…and it’s not always accurate or verified or even 2 sources checked.
Truth must fight for oxygen.
Enter Big [If True] the smart, sharp TVO series hosted by journalist Molly Thomas. A sassy weekly show that “tracks and exposes misinformation, disinformation, conspiracies, lies, frauds, and hoaxes.”
This current affairs show doesn’t offer clickbait headlines. Refreshingly, Molly and her team basically interrogate the headlines. Over the first season they covered Trad Wives—which was all new and weird for me, UFOs and the manipulative health practices rooted in alien technology and deepfakes which are not as tasty as deepdish pizza.
Misinformation is an annoying glitch in the Matrix and crafting disinformation is a profitable hustle in this gig economy so we all need a guide to navigate the turbulent rapids of cyberspace.
When I go to Egypt, I’ll tourist and visit famous temples or even the pyramids and I will go with a wise guide who can translate the hieroglyphics and put things into historical context. The guide can explain how we got here.
And that’s what Molly impressively does on Big [If True]: she translates complex hieroglyphics, through her guests or via her panels and those discussions and debates…her insightful questions are road trips that are open to taking strange paths.
I find it puzzling now…having grown up with just a newspaper and the Six O’Clock News we’re struggling to connect because we’re not all on the same page. We have TikTok and podcasts and Substack and the guy who only reads the headlines and selfish algorithms…there’s a lot going on and we have so many more options. We’re hungry but seemingly willing to settle for subpar junk food.
So yeah, obviously this episode will cover journalism’s greatest hits: misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories and more. But it also covers UFOs, Hebrews 11 and The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis and it all starts with basketball and Michael Jordan and trash talking.
Big [If True] takes all of that white noise of our modern era and asks a simple but powerful question:
Is it actually true? I appreciate that and I so enjoyed Season 1.
Big [If True] has been renewed for a second season.
You can watch Big [If True] on Sundays on TVO’s broadcast channel at 8 p.m.
Online you watch it on YouTube or stream it on the TVO Website.
Big [If True] @ W • T • F
Host Sammy Younan
Recorded: Monday, June 2, 2026 at 11:00 am (EST)
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