And I wonder ... I wa wa wa wa wonder ... why?

Oh dear! I've fallen victim to my cultural habit and asked the question "why?" in the last post. And I've invited you, dear reader, to get sucked back into the habit yourself, as in:

Why do the oil companies try to disprove global warming?

Why would the environmentalists try to blame it on oil?

Why did Al Gore make An Inconvenient Truth?

"Why" is like broken record. Why oh why oh why??? You can get so focused on "why" that you fail to notice what's actually happening. Think about all the times that you've asked yourself "Why?" and how often that's actually been of use to you.

Take someone who's been cheated on as an example. He'll keep asking "Why does she keep cheating on me???" when in reality, the problem is not WHY? but THAT she is cheating. If he can stop asking "Why?" long enough to say "She's cheating on me" perhaps the solution - get out of the relationship - will become obvious to him.

The biggest argument we can make in favor of "why" is that it helps us understand someone better. In the example above, the typical cheatee who asks "why" responds to his question in two ways:

* She cheats on me because I'm actually a choad and do not deserve her.

OR

* She cheats on me because her father was not around and she has abandonment issues. So she has to keep multiple men on hand just in case one disappears. Or some other variation on the theme of psychic damage.

But!

Who cares!?!

She's CHEATING on you. MULTIPLE TIMES!! Get out, man! Get out before it is too late!!!

Or, as bryan h. puts it in the comments of schmotive: any argument for motive or intent is superceded by effect.