It’s about who deserves empathy and who doesn’t

The moral compass of the world is upside down.

Inverted. Twisted. Lost in its own lack of logic.

I understand why political leaders are condemning what is happening in Venezuela and with their President Nicolas Maduro.

I really do. It terrifies them.

It sets a precedent that a power greater than themselves can enter a country, seize its leader, and hold him accountable.

That borders are not impenetrable.

That sovereignty does not automatically protect those who abuse it.

That someone can come in and take control.

Of course, that frightens world leaders.

And they are right, it fractures the sense of what should be OK, what should be legal on the world stage.

No political leader in the world should be with kidnapping a President, in theory. It would make no sense in terms of self preservation.

And for us average citizens of the world, there is a sense of shock and horror, of surprise and hope, of confusion and concern.

I've heard a lot of arugments since this news first broke.

Many are trying to argue this action on moral grounds.

It was immoral to "kidnap" Maduro. A man who presided over the systematic collapse of a nation while its people paid the price in exile, hunger, and fear.

When you go online, or you see people protesting in the streets in the states in defense of him, horrified that he was deposed, for the sake of "what's right" -- you kinda can't make sense of them.

Because these are the same people who are suddenly fluent in the language of law and human rights (and have ignored it since Oct 7th) and have shown, again and again, that their morality is conditional.

They can justify captivity when it suits them.

They can "rename" kidnapping when it fits their politics.

They can excuse brutality when it’s framed as “resistance.”

And yet, when it comes to Venezuela, they are advocating for, or worse, showing outrage on behalf of a dictator, "in the name of the people."

A people have been held hostage for decades.

A nation torn apart by corruption, cartels, drugs, and violence.

Oil wealth stolen. Institutions gutted. Families forced to flee.

The people of Venezuela have lived under authoritarianism while the world looked away.

And now, as they celebrate in the streets, many of the same voices who claim to stand with the oppressed are mourning the fall of the man who destroyed their country. "Hands off Venezuela" is being shouted by the same people who cried "Hands off Iran" when the people were suffering there, too. These groups claim moral goodness when they advocate for those who cause the suffering of millions.

Make this make sense for me.

You can't.

Because this isn’t about international law.

It isn’t about human rights.

And it certainly isn’t about standing with the oppressed.

It’s about who deserves empathy and who doesn’t.

We are living in a world where right is called wrong, and wrong is called right. Where terrorism, law, resistance, and authoritarianism are emptied of meaning and refilled according to ideology.

I am not making a political argument. I won't get into any political arguments either on this post.

I am making a moral point.

That morality that only applies to some people is not morality at all.