And those colors, unfortunately, are darker than we’d like to admit...
Hatred has always been there, lurking in the shadows of “everything is fine.” That hatred some carry like a shameful secret, like an inherited illness they can’t decide whether to curse or accept. But when Donald Trump returned to power and, with a stroke of his pen, erased all of Biden’s executive orders, the mask slipped. The world saw, unfiltered and unvarnished, the true colors of those who had for years pretended to be progressive—or at least tolerant.
Trump, in his unmistakable style, decreed the end of gender identity as a matter of state policy. What many considered a milestone for diversity, he dismantled without flinching. And while activists raised their voices in protest, a silent segment of the world began to applaud. Because, apparently, respect for others had felt like a burden, a chain now broken with relief. The same applies to mass deportations, no longer seen as human tragedies but as “order” in the minds of those structured by imaginary walls.
Hatred didn’t come alone. Elon Musk, once the visionary of electric cars and space exploration, made an arm gesture that sparked another storm. A symbol many interpreted as a nod to the Nazi era. An inappropriate criticism, to say the least, because no comparison can do justice to the atrocities of that time. Yet the backlash rained down with the same intensity as the applause, revealing that divisions are no longer mere cracks; they are chasms.
And so, society has become a gladiator arena. The radical right embraces the most extreme ideas, while the left retaliates with equal fury. Dialogue has become a relic, and political correctness a bad joke. Social media, once tools for connection, are now trenches where no one listens, and everyone fires.
Are we entering the worst era of the world? Perhaps not historically speaking. We don’t see extermination camps, but we do see a disdain for empathy that is equally corrosive. The social fabric doesn’t tear in a single blow; it rots from within, slowly, when we forget that behind the labels—migrant, trans, millionaire, poor—are human beings.
The secret to human well-being, the one we’ve lost sight of amid all the shouting and rage, lies in a phrase as simple as it is powerful: “Respect for the rights of others is peace.” But it seems that Benito Juárez’s wisdom has no place in a world where true colors are no longer hidden but proudly displayed. And those colors, unfortunately, are darker than we’d like to admit.