it's often pushed most by people of arab ancestry that grew up in the west and have no meaningful ties to the middle east. they get their concepts of the region from bad media, like everybody else, and they've internalized this warped concept of difference. i've deconstructed the cleopatra myth along these lines.
i don't think that the people of syria are different than us, or want a different political or religious system than we do, or have different beliefs or values than we do. i think that they're mostly irreligious people that have left religion behind, want to live in a free society where they're not oppressed by religious authorities and want basic concepts of democracy and self-determination.
and, i think anybody that denies that or tries to argue otherwise needs to give their head a shake. they're wrong. and, they're racists, no matter how much they try to flip the situation over.
read the said text. it's illuminating. really. it'll help you realize what you're doing wrong, especially if you're a western arab that's never even fucking been east of rome in your fucking life.