We’ve been hearing about bubbles a lot in the past couple of years. Stuff no one expected to actually happen, did, like Brexit, then Trump and string of other reinvigorations of right-wing, xenophobic, ultra-nationalist movements across the world. That’s not all though, upsets from the other end also happened, even when we weren’t expecting things like Macron sweeping both presidential and parliamentary elections in France this year.

Social media helps you stay in that bubble, with all the algorithms being tailor-made to show you only what you will like, and keep you scrolling through your feeds and timelines for as long as possible.

That’s why, I’m writing a little less opinion pieces these days, and not just because of being busy at work, but also trying to figure out how the “other” side sees the story and why it makes me sometimes worried, other times horrified or even ecstatic sometimes.

Three major incidents happened in Lebanon in the past few weeks, and I’ve taken the time to mull them over, talk to people affected by those events and shifts, and people who on paper I am at odds with on most things. Here’s what came out:

How the Refugees See the Army

If you lived in Syria before the war, chances are you were familiar with the Assad regime’s brutality. Soldiers and people in uniform aren’t largely seen as a uniting rallying call, but a symbol of a police state’s oppression, where people disappear for dissent, or if they are seen as a nuisance by those pulling the strings for whatever reason.

Now, imagine hostilities with that same army, and its jet planes dropping unguided missiles, and its helicopters dropping barrel bombs, forced you to come live in a tent in Lebanon. You’d probably feel even more resentment, mistrust and fear of armed government forces, especially a foreign government in a country where you don’t feel welcome.

Add to that mix, a lot of xenophobic rhetoric online and on TV, with just a pinch of Arab-style conspiracy theories, and you get a knee-jerk reaction of deep mistrust and fear for your life and safety. So, when 4 refugees died in the Lebanese Army’s custody, it’s kinda easy to realize how some people asked questions many would rather not be asked. It led to the infamous call for a protest, that was immediately considered as against the army. The ugly vigilante revenge stunts followed, and it was a worrisome and ugly few days after that incident.

Luckily though, the investigation is underway, and in the last operations in Aarsal, the Lebanese Army made sure ICRC or other international NGOs were present to catalog that no human right abuses had taken place, and that innocent civilians, both host communities and refugees, were kept safe from the battle.

The Pro Lebanese Army “No Matter What” Camp

If one wants to try to find something most if not all Lebanese can rally around, it’s the Lebanese Army. No other Lebanese institution is seen with the same kind of reverence, respect and trust. While most government bodies in Lebanon are seen as hopelessly corrupt, criminally inept and never for the people, the Army is the complete opposite.

For many Lebanese, betrayed time and again by every politician and political party over the last few decades, the army is the last semblance of a functioning state that most of us cling on to blindly, with the absence of anything else that can compare.

It’s understandable then that even if their might be a fault, some Lebanese wouldn’t mind overlooking it, even if it means compromising on their morals or ethics, and letting our worst instincts get the best of us.

However, after a few days, people did eventually calm down and come to their senses. It doesn’t mean they’re all evil, bloodthristy, pro-execution, pro-torture, it’s that you touched the one thing they still find sacred, and they reacted with what they felt was appropriate, even if it threatened the peace and security in fragile Lebanon.

Hezbollah in Aarsal

The battles in Aarsal have been a real eye-opener. People who used to blame Hezbollah for every fault, suddenly made a 180-degree flip after seeing Hassan Nasrallah tear up as he talked about the martyrs who fell fighting armed terror groups in Aarsal’s hinterlands. Others, repeated their sterile, ineffective slogan that Hezbollah is not respecting Lebanon’s sovereignty, without offering a viable alternative or solution to the current status quo. It doesn’t help that these are the same people who asked the army to stop in 2013, instead of finish the fight, and get back our captured boys.

For Hezbollah’s supporters, this is the epic fight of our lifetime. It’s good versus evil for them. It’s head-chopping, beating-heart-eating savages sent at them by Wahabist Saudi Arabia. It’s their sons, their fathers, their cousins, their classmates, their friends dying fighting for what they believe in and against all of Lebanon’s enemy: terror groups. So, when an ineffectual March 14 washed-up has-been tweets or posts such detached, insensitive remarks, as fellow Lebanese grieve their dead who died fighting to liberate Lebanese soil from the hands of Al Nusra and its off-shoots, it’s a bit silly and doesn’t really help.

At the end of the day, the men getting killed on the frontlines are Lebanese. They probably went to your university, you probably go to the same malls, like the same singers and play the same FIFA game on Playstations. Don’t be a dick about it.

On the other side, the massive coverage and hype surrounding the effective and quick battle, has emboldened the thuggish supporters of Hezbollah. Those who don’t mind doxxing and threatening people, behind the safety of their keyboards, while trying to reap the rewards of the military successes the actual fighters are doing, getting injured for, and dying for.

This manifested itself in the vicious attacks against Unite with Tomorrowland, with groups of cyberbullies calling young Lebanese men and women “Israeli” and “the enemy” for attending a dance event, that also happened to be broadcast in the occupied territories of Palestine. Calling a fellow Lebanese, for not sharing your misinformed, zealous opinion on boycotts while you use phones with chips made in Haifa…Or miss four Gal Gadot movies before noticing Wonder Woman…

The quick victory in Aarsal, shouldn’t be the excuse to exercise your ideology on others who don’t share it. Don’t like a movie? Don’t watch it, you can’t ban it. Don’t like a music event being broadcast to Israelis (like most other things), then you can’t call the thousands upon thousands of Lebanese, Arabs and foreigners who came together to dance and have a good time as “Israelis” and “traitors”.

In Conclusion

All the parties and opinions above went too far. The level of discourse has become toxic beyond comprehension, and dangerous, and spilling into violence. The main problem is that everyone is so deeply entrenched in their opinion, where if you are not pro torture, others consider you “anti-army”, or if you are rooting for Hezbollah defeating Jabhat El Nusra, that doesn’t mean you are against Lebanon and pro-Iran. Where if you go to a dance event, you’re considered a traitor, and where you are considered disloyal to Lebanon if you do not just sit, arms crossed and watch as extremists dig in Lebanese territories.

I know the above isn’t a scientific assessment by far, but it does represent a version or look at these issues that I didn’t immediately think of at first. This helped me understand how the “other” side in each incident is thinking and feeling, which made things seem less hopeless and scary. It always make things clearer when you can try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and try to figure out how they see things from their eyes.

Whether you’re a Syrian refugee, a Lebanese citizen, a soldier, a fighter or an armchair activist, most of us never even considered the other person’s position, and why they think and feel that way.

The tricky part now though, is figuring out what to do about it, and how to make those gaps less wide and build a few bridges in hopes of seeing change in the elections next spring. Or at least avoiding the situation getting worse.