Wes Fryer records episode four of the Heal Our Culture podcast from Charlotte, North Carolina on February 15, 2026, framing it as a “letter to the future” for his unborn grandchildren. He shares a story from a November 2017 trip to Cairo, Egypt to speak at the EduForum conference, including visiting the pyramids, the Sphinx, and the Cairo Museum, and learning about the historic Hotel Mina meeting before the 1945 Yalta Conference. He credits his trip’s tourism moments and historical explorations to Ahmed Ragheb, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and family friend (Muslim married to a Jewish wife), whose career connects to Wes’s father’s Vietnam-era F-4 service and later pilot training leadership; Wes also recalls the Iranian hostage crisis era at Columbus Air Force Base. Wes recounts Ahmed’s explanation of Egypt’s post–Arab Spring politics, noting Mohamed Morsi’s 2012–2013 presidency and the subsequent military takeover that preceded President Abdel Fattah el‑Sisi’s rule beginning in 2014, and uses this to reflect on democracy’s fragility and the dangers of populism. He connects these themes to the United States in February 2026, describing concerns about rising authoritarianism, voter suppression, and challenges to democratic institutions, and references recent killings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by federal agents and reports of masked, unbadged arrests and detentions, including incidents in Charlotte. Wes describes his own oath to defend the U.S. Constitution as a 1992 U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, his path out of pilot training and into education, and his ongoing media literacy work since 2019, including the “Conspiracies and Culture Wars” inquiry project (medialiteracy.wesfryer.com/concw) and his effort to “reclaim our news feeds” through news.wesfryer.com using Flipboard and a Federated Reader project built with AI. He cites polarized narratives around the January 6 insurrection, presidential pardons for those involved, disputes over the 2020 election, and differing accounts across platforms as reasons for prioritizing trusted sources. He also points listeners to the “Wes and Shelly Share” podcast (episode 39) discussing snow days and resistance work, including involvement with Indivisible and Indivisible Charlotte through Caldwell Presbyterian Church. The episode closes with a call to be “culture healers” rather than “culture warriors,” to sustain hope and community, and to defend democratic values and rights—especially voting rights—while recognizing the long historical struggle for justice highlighted during Black History Month.
This podcast episode is available as a video on Substack and YouTube, and an audio podcast on Spotify and other podcast platforms.
Also check out Episode 39 of the “Wes and Shelly Share” podcast, “Snow Days and Resistance.”
Check out and subscribe to my (Wes Fryer’s) “Resist and Heal” Substack and project website, as well as other Substack newsletters I periodically share.
“News with Wes Fryer” is available on news.wesfryer.com. More background information about this and my other “vibe coding” projects is available on ai.wesfryer.com.
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