As a result, it has become increasingly simplified and polarized to the point where only knee-jerk rooting and cheering, but not analysis or substantive discussion, is possible. Propaganda posing as analysis has dominated the discourse on Syria.

As a result, there are now two dominant narratives regarding the causes of the war. While they contain some grains of truth, both narratives are equally simplistic and thus, appealing for social media wars, but also quite misleading.

One view — promoted by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and its supporters — holds that Western powers and Gulf regimes plotted the overthrow of the Assad government, instigated protests against it, and hired the rebels to do the job on the battlefield. In this telling, the conflict in Syria is primarily the byproduct of outside agitators.