Steven Foster

As a Venezuelan, these last few days have been a rollercoaster of happiness, frustration, and sadness. On the day I thought would be the most important for my life and my country, I find myself struggling to make people understand that our reality isn’t an internet slogan. It has left me completely broken to see that the fall of the criminal dictator who destroyed my family, my friends, and my country was not universally celebrated. What I found instead has left me with a profound sense of emptiness: What I have seen confirms something I have felt for a long time. Nuanced thought has practically vanished. There is no longer a common ground where we can reason with any depth. We are so consumed by radical narratives that we have reduced complex, painful realities into simplified versions that feel comfortable to us. Today, people react before they even try to understand. They take a stand based on their hatred of a figure or an ideology first, and only then do they look for a way to justify it. The question is no longer about what actually protects human life, but rather who is saying it and which side they belong to. Moral analysis has been replaced by political identity. Fewer and fewer people bother to learn from direct sources or real communities. Very few take the time to actually talk to those living the realities they criticize from afar. Instead, we consume fragments of information filtered by social media and algorithms designed to reinforce what we already believe, all seen through the lens of privilege. We have reached a point where trying to understand nuance feels dangerous. Defending something objectively good is seen as a betrayal if the person doing it is on the "wrong side." Many people now reject actions that relieve human suffering simply because acknowledging them would mean agreeing with someone they have decided to hate. Ideology has been placed above reality. We are reducing entire countries and cultures to Instagram posts and slogans shared without context. People are taking to the streets to defend realities they have never experienced and pains they have never had to carry, convinced that a narrative learned online is enough to speak for others. We have never been so technologically connected while being so humanly disconnected. Being right has become a priority over listening. What disappoints me most is seeing how human rights fall below personal or political interests. People aren't thinking from a place of reason or shared humanity; they are completely rooted in extremes. I only ask for a little respect and compassion for those of us who have suffered through 30 years of dictatorship. Please, listen to the voices that have been silenced for so long.

the worst part of winter is you lift up the skirt and there's more defenses

Pray for Venezuela