The impetus for this Rabbit Hole is “A momentous day in American history” Steve Schmidt from The Warning with Steve Schmidt. He muses about the anniversary of the end of the Civil War (161 years ago) and who he believes ‘Americans’ should be grateful to that the Union survived. He opens with a quote from a memoir edited by Connecticuts own Mark Twain:
“My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral.”
— Opening statement of Ulysses S. Grant’s “Personal Memoirs”
Policy Framework For “What We Foster”
This week the governance team approved our Social Media Policy. It establishes a framework for how I and others can engage publicly as representatives of the organization—aiming for a consistent, positive online presence that supports WPAA-TV’s mission: empowering diverse voices, promoting civic engagement, and advancing media literacy through public interest storytelling.The policy is public in our Sunshine Documents.
Questions are a tool for engagement. We don’t take direct positions with questions, but the questions themselves reflect values and information we consider in the public interest. Today I posted some of this Rabbit Hole thinking in the comments:
#CivicLiteracy #MediaLiteracy Upon whose shoulders do you stand? Our community media movement stands on the shoulders of George Stoney with nods to Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ulysses Grant and Abraham Lincoln. (These four figures represent the historical foundation of liberation, civic literacy, and the fight for human rights in America.)
The Civil War is said to have ended 161 years ago in April 1865. Lincoln would be assassinated. Who has more Statues* Ulysses Grant or Robert E Lee? Do you know Robert E. Lee had significantly more public statues than Ulysses S. Grant. The Lost Cause Movement had some push back between 2015 and 2024. Iconic Lee statues in Richmond, Charlottesville, New Orleans, and the U.S. Capitol have all been taken down. Do you know The “Silent” Victor: Most Union monuments depict the “Anonymous Soldier” rather than Grant himself.
Do you know that Mark Twain edited Grant’s memoir, a bestseller in 1885?
What stories do you choose to foster in telling, art or in your heart?
*Statues refers to full-figure monuments. They are a form of #socialactionart. Historical markers, plaques, and busts, Robert E. Lee also outnumber Grant.
On The Shoulders
The post on WPAA-TV Facebook page suggests these four figures represent the historical foundation of liberation, civic literacy, and human rights in America. All came from humble or oppressed beginnings; each reached heights of influence. Whether escaping slavery (Tubman, Douglass) or rising from financial failure (Grant), they embody “standing on the shoulders of giants” to advance freedom.
Their roles differed, but their efforts were interdependent:
- Abraham Lincoln provided the political will and legal framework for the war.
- Ulysses S. Grant provided the military strategy to win it.
- Frederick Douglass acted as a crucial advisor to Lincoln, pushing him to allow Black soldiers to fight and making the war explicitly about abolition.
- Harriet Tubman served as a scout, spy, and nurse for the Union Army, directly assisting the military effort.
After the war, they remained committed to securing the rights of the formerly enslaved:
- Grant, as president, worked to dismantle the first iteration of the KKK and signed the Fifteenth Amendment.
- Douglass and Tubman continued advocating for suffrage—for Black men and for women—and civil rights throughout their lives.
Harriet Tubman didn’t start with an army. She started with a path through a swamp and the sheer will to return.
Frederick Douglass didn’t start with a printing press. He started with a “stolen” education and the audacity to speak his truth in a country that legally considered him property.
Our Civil War Remains— in Media
Divide is fostered and abetted by capitalized modern media.
“Modern media” is a delivery system. Community media aspires to civic service. It’s the difference between a loud noise in a crowded room and a meaningful conversation at a kitchen table.
Aspires—because we are grit without stone.
I’ve used the David vs. Goliath metaphor before: an underestimated weapon in the hands of the people, a path to victory. Today I align with David’s grit, showing up to do the work—but weaponless. Under-resourced, with phantom engagement, informed consensus in the public interest is far from guaranteed. We operate without the massive stones of corporate funding, high-end lobby groups, or viral algorithms.
Modern media is the giant. Its strength is scale. Its weakness is lack of soul—often aimless, drifting wherever profit or outrage leads.
Modern digital platforms lack town-square accountability. Community media provides a space where creators are also neighbors, creating a natural check on misinformation through shared local reality. One is driven by algorithms, engagement metrics, and speed (which invites misinformation). Community media is driven by the public interest—giving voice to the local collective rather than broadcasting unverified data globally.
To paraphrase Alice’s Cheshire Cat: “If you have no goal, any path will get you there.” George Harrison imprinted this on me with his 1970 song “Any Road”: If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.
In the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Lewis Carroll wrote it this way:
Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
The Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
Alice: “I don’t much care where—”
The Cat: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.“
Community media builds its aim through civic literacy. We’re tossing pebbles with social media so the community can reflect on democracy—why they’re standing on shoulders, and what they’re standing for.
“Standing on the shoulders of giants” isn’t about having it easy. It’s about realizing that others stood in that same aimless, rock-less position before—and still managed to move the needle.
In a space where misinformation is the giant, how does your community find its stone? Through the stories of local people? Through historical context? Both?