Any Syrians playing this?

[hammelman]

I bet if we did a statistical analysis of any culture it would have people who were either red or blue, for or against.

Theres only really 2 answers (in my mind) to the original question, A: i hate that the Americans are the aggressors, and we Syrians are portrayed as the bad guy, or B: I think its great the Americans are liberating Syria from Dear Leader.

No matter what, people are going to end up in one of the 2 categories, and i bet over time equally people will distribute among them.

So i guess why i am irked by the original topic is its highly predictable what the answers will be, answers we've heard time and again in life. Therefore GSX is asking a question that we already know the answer to.

[Canada Guy]

If you asked your joe-blow on the street, maybe. You are not dealing with your average person though here on this forum. I think most of us here (if you want to do a statistical analysis) have very different views than your average man you would find in your streets.

Without getting too far off topic, I see the world not as black and white but in shades of grey. I fully support the conflict in Afghanistan but find it utterly foolish that Iraq was invaded on absolutely no solid pretext and that this has been the most destabilizing force in the world for the last 40 years.

The Assad regime in Syria may be bad but in CMx2 we (the Western world) seem to want to prop it up against Islamic fundamentalists. Is this not the exact opposite of what happened in Iraq? There the USA overthrew a strongman and in the process helped the Iraqi insurgents as well as strengthened Islamic fundamentalism and made it a viable philosophy in the Middle East. Does that make the USA in Iraq black and in CMx2 white? Or vice-versa. Perhaps just differing shades of grey.

This means that we should also want to find out about how other people see the conflicts. There shades of grey would be different than yours. Though probably just as confused but defintely not predictable.

[hammelman]

I actually agree 100% with you on issues pertaining to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. You and I have the luxury of having our armchairs, our opinion although valid in certain instances does not really come into play - because we are not Syrian. We are more than likely way more educated on the circumstances of the any war than the common dude on the ground, but our emotion is not tuned to it in a realistic way. So i guess i find it hard to contemplate how a Syrian would feel expect in a very few instances - as my previous post indicated.

[Canada Guy]

I agree. It would be a very different response depending upon the Syrian. LoneSyrian was a little bit touchy (I am trying to be polite) but talking to a Captain (or higher) in the Syrian army might give us some useful insight.

I would agree though that sitting in my comfy chair with my limited emotional involvement does not give me the insight that living there would day to day.