What was Syria like before the war
Meta-commentary: This is one of the more fascinating threads I have seen on HN. It seems to parallel many of the problems with political discourse in the world today - maybe it's always been like this, but I'm not old enough to know.<p>I would break down the comments into several types:<p>1) conspiracy theorists who believe in some secret cult that is unilaterally organizing everything<p>2) trolls - state sponsored or otherwise pushing an anti-humanitarian cause. They are throwing chaff into the discussion to confuse and disorient and to detract from the real issues.<p>3) people with experience in these events trying desperately to be heard - these are the people meant to be drowned out by the trolls<p>4) alarmists - people with relatively little knowledge of the actual goings-on who insist that every minor event is the end of the world (or Syria). I'm not saying that Syria hasn't been decimated, but that it was (and is) a process not an event<p>5) the rest of everyone who is trying to make heads or tails of things and seems to fall into one of those camps.<p>So, to one of the brighter communities on the internet (that's you HN) I ask: how do we (humanity) convey a full, factual picture to one another so that we may use those facts in conjunction with our values to agree or disagree with one another?