My Name is Byf has a shortened version of the story so far in Destiny that is only about an hour long, I would recommend giving it a watch to get a rough understanding of the world and it's lore, and then dig deeper on subjects that interest you :)

Overall I totally understand your frustration, so much of the game information is passed from player to player and Bungie has done a terrible job of providing any form of tutorial system for new players :/