Well, it is my website and I do share my opinions on a variety of topics here. You don’t have to agree and I’m not looking for 100% of people to agree but whether you agree or disagree, isn’t going to change the fact I will continue sharing my opinions! Been doing it since 2008 and don’t plan to stop soon! I’ve never once called myself “the travel police.”

Well said! Since when is Matt the travel police? Tourism can help a lot of people and businesses who have been severely affected by the cruel actions of Syria. You can enjoy a beautiful country while also strongly disagreeing with the treatment of its people. What a joke this article was, but maybe that’s what he was aiming for to get more clicks. Got me! You’re welcome!

Honestly, have people no empathy? That’s like wandering around Bergen-Belsen in 1944 taking happy-snaps, or going on a coach tour across 1848 Ireland drinking champers on the bus and watching people die from the potato blight.

Would you do that? Would any normal person do that? Clearly, some people would do that, and then post their photos of starving Irish children on their Instagram.

There are a lot of reasons why ISIS came into being, but that Obama’s Iran Deal was one of them is rather absurd. I challenge you to draw a straight line between the two. Even people who are vehemently opposed to that deal can’t do it

“If you follow these accounts, you get the impression the worst is behind the country. But that’s because these bloggers are (a) in government-controlled territory and (b) likely talking to Assad supporters or those too afraid to speak out.”

1. The only territories that are NOT in government control are

a) Idlib, which is in the control of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, a terrorist organization that used to be called Jabhat Al-Nusra, an Al-Qaeda offshoot. Don’t let the media fool you into thinking that these guys are somehow more benevolent than big bad ISIS, which everyone was afraid of… they aren’t, and if there is a shade of difference it’s only in degrees.

b) parts of the failed Rojava (Kurdish north-eastern part) that actually recently made a deal with the Assad government because they acknowledged they would rather be with him than at the mercy of Turkey who would ethnically cleanse them, or worse, and

c) small random pockets that the US keeps saying it needs to be in “because of ISIS” despite the caliphate being dead.

In other words, the only place that a tourist can go safely (relatively speaking), is in fact, government territory. That goes a long way into realizing that Assad always was the “least-bad” option here since you won’t get your head chopped off for being anything other than a Sunni.

Think about it… are you gonna boycott the Philipines, not go to Manila, because Duterte is a thug? Are you gonna cancel that trip to Yosemite National Park because Trump is a closet racist?

2. “likely talking to Assad supporters” – that means that these people actually exist, and have existed, since the beginning of the war. At some point you need to acknowledge that people who support Assad make up a significant chunk of the population. Are their voices not relevant, simply because the Syrians in exile (who almost all supported the revolution), through their various organizations, declared it as so?

I remember the war being painted as Alawites vs. everyone else when in reality, the Syrian army was always majority Sunni. And after all the desertions, and the military setbacks and tens of thousands of military deaths, when it looked like Assad was going to lose, the Syrian army STILL had people in it that remained loyal… was that out of fear? Were all these people members of the Ba’ath party? Of course not… there was some other type of loyalty that people in the West simply cannot fathom.

Going to a place like Syria, just because you want likes on your pics, is cynical and privileged, you’re right, but a lot of people also travel because they want to put money into the economy, help the local people out, and learn about the culture in the process. Let’s face facts: Assad has won the civil war, and the people that remain in Syria are desperate to have some normalcy return to their lives, including making some money running businesses that cater to travelers.

The zoo analogy is perfect.