Reading and reflecting on some of the comments that were posted in relation to the article, it absolutely clear that the blue pill has been ingested and deposited deep in to the intestine of so many cynical people, thus explaining the ignorance and obtuseness of so many.

By far this is a well thought of piece of writing, actually one of the best articles I have read in relation to the current Syrian conflict, yet it is unfortunate and disappointing that certain shallow thinkers were so occupied with the shell and could not see past the metaphors used by the Author in order focus on the core of the issue.

To an extent many have actually been sucked in and demonstrated the reality of ignorance that is existent in our society. Perhaps the article could be for the cognoscenti who are well informed about the issue, but then it is your choice because eventually it is an issue that will affect all and no one is excluded

@Mac
You are dead right "The Emperor's New Clothes" is a pertinent analogy for this piece.
This story is often sociopolitically parsed as "The Emperor Has No Clothes" meaning: though the truth is obvious for even a 'child' to see, it will be denied by the majority especially when it's being fed by the government. In this case the childish observation is: Why are the 'good guys' helping the 'bad guys' (i.e. Al Qaeda)? Perhaps because the good guys are really the bad guys and have been for a while and Al Qaeda has always been the perfect excuse.

Oops, I guess you didn't understand the analogy you were quoting, nor did you understand the article, nor do you understand the reality that is plain to see. Your confidence derives not from your mind but the mindless numbers that share your thinking.

@Omarb: Your points were very clear and succinct the first time, don't be disappointed by the responses. Its easy to "belittle" anything, all you need is a 'little' mind.

@Dove: Well said - people like you give hope to those who 'get it'

This is starting to get quite interesting.

>>...it absolutely clear that the blue pill has been ingested and deposited deep in to the intestine of so many cynical people, thus explaining the ignorance and obtuseness of so many<<

I think that is meant to be an insult.

A pretty weak one, true, but clearly intended to say that anyone who doesn't think this is a well-written, insightful and iconoclastic item, is very thick.

Well, I have a different view.

To me, it is an overwrought piece of self-indulgent emotional pap, that not only tells us nothing about Syria, but also falls short of promoting any kind of constructive thought on the topic.

It is nothing more than the cry of an over-stimulated Year 11 essay-writer, who has just discovered that the world is not a particularly nice place, who has absorbed the dross of a hundred would-be-anarchic web sites, and has chosen to regurgitate it here for our benefit.

Apart from that, what is truly unforgivable is its painful mangling of language, its proliferation of half-baked metaphor and tired allusions, and its sheer unreadability.

>>In this case the childish observation is: Why are the 'good guys' helping the 'bad guys' (i.e. Al Qaeda)?<<

Yep. That's the discovery I was talking about. It is all horribly confusing to the average bear, isn't it. And here we have the anguished cry of the adolescent, baying at the moon for someone to explain all the difficult bits, the parts that don't sit easily with a childlike desire for order and predictability.

It is a complex world. Not all solutions are either obvious, or easy.

Articles like this neither illuminate, nor instruct, just fill up space with a load of piteous tosh.

@Pericles
It's almost amusing seeing you blab on and on.
If it was such an unenlightened and inconsequential piece we wouldn't have you dedicated full time to it :) painstakingly copying/pasting and responding point-wise to people's appreciative comments. I am sure your fancy vocabulary has better uses than being wasted on 'a load of piteous tosh' (tosh, oh my gosh).

(I say 'almost' because of the nature of the subject, enough to make any half decent human bow their head in contemplation if not outright shame)

theHypocrisy,

"Oops, I guess you didn't understand the analogy you were quoting, nor did you understand the article, nor do you understand the reality that is plain to see. Your confidence derives not from your mind but the mindless numbers that share your thinking."

Actually you don't understand the analogy, so, you've missed the point entirely. I wasn't commenting on the situation in the ME, but the quality of the article, analysis has been replaced by allusions to popular culture. In my opinion you're like one of the Emperor's courtiers in the story, there's nothing there to see, apart from the naked Emperor, perhaps you're projecting your own opinions on to the text and making some threadbare clothes for the Emperor.

Your assumption that you've some insights into the situation that the rest of the public doesn't understand is (I'll be kind here) patronising drivel. Actually I don't support Western, particularly US policy, in the ME--my argument is that the author's article is incoherent, pretentious and lacking any substance, rather like yours in fact.

"(I say 'almost' because of the nature of the subject, enough to make any half decent human bow their head in contemplation if not outright shame)"

Congratulations Hadi... that got me thinking more about the subject than the entire eristic article.

I remember my mum saying, "You don't look half-decent." So I must be more... but shame?

Not on my part, more disgust that the same act can be regarded simultaneously as a contravention of a religion and the conviction of it.