WRONG QUESTION = WRONG ANSWER
Can we go to Mars? Wrong Question. Should we go to Mars? Much better question. Why? Because if we figure out that we SHOULD then we will figure out the ABILITY issue. Ability is not enough reason to do anything.
My Part D provider doesn’t make as much money off of me if I don’t order a prescription. I know this because they called 7 times to ask if they could help me order it. They didn’t ask the right question, though. The right question would have been “WHY didn’t you order that medication?” They asked loads of other questions, like “Are you taking this medicine?”, “Do you have transportation issues?”, and “Are you getting positive results from this medicine?” I didn’t order a 3-month prescription BECAUSE I already had more than a 3-month supply remaining. Sometimes doctors order one strength, but it is too much. Then they order a lower dose. Cutting the higher dose in half gave me plenty extra. You and the government should be happy that I don’t waste medicine YOU pay for. Now YOU know more than THEY do. You’re welcome!
Years ago a college administrator asked me the wrong question. I didn’t lie. The question: “Are you responsible for THIS bad behavior, THAT bad behavior, and THAT OTHER bad behavior?” I had nothing to do with THAT behavior, so the clearly correct answer was “No.” I’ve matured since and would not now do any of those things, but I was not going to take credit for something I hadn’t done. It was a poorly crafted question and I’m not responsible for the administrator’s mistake. If she had asked three separate questions I would have owned up to those things I had done. Wrong question = wrong answer.
TIME published an article this week that asks the wrong question: “Can Trump Strip Ilhan Omar of Her Citizenship? Here’s How the Process Works.” First of all, you can’t “strip” someone of their citizenship if they never had it. That is one of the questions facing prosecutors: “Did Omar actually become a LEGAL US citizen?” If she did not follow all the laws regarding becoming a citizen then she is automatically a non-citizen. The second question facing prosecutors is closer to TIME’s strange question: “Did Omar obtain citizenship by means of fraud?” Fraud is illegal and can void one’s citizenship status. The COURT would decide this question, not Trump. Again, the strange issue here is that she WOULD be stripped of her citizenship by the court, but then Trump would have to follow the law based upon the findings of the court. It wouldn’t be his action. Finally, after those questions there is the question of TRUMP working to “strip” her of citizenship: “Can Trump strip the rights of citizenship from someone who became a citizen legally?” Since we don’t know the outcome of the first two questions it really is strangely early to ask the third. I’m not interested yet in that. Let’s first answer question one and question two. The headline implies that Trump is going to kick her out no matter what. I don’t see it happening that way. By the way, there are other serious questions about Omar. Did she really “marry” her brother? Why is she so bad at reporting income…doesn’t she have someone on her staff capable of doing this? Is she connected to massive fraud in her state? We may never get clear answers if we don’t ask clear questions.
Before AI ruined search engines I could ask a good question and quickly could find the answer I needed. Now, if I ask a simple question: “What is Carrot Wax?” (just a random example … I have no interest in any such thing) I probably won’t find any offered site that talks about wax. AI will tell me that some grocers spray a wax coating that keeps more moisture in the vegetable. Every offered answer will probably be about something not carrot related (in general) or vacation rentals (ads). At one time a good search question yielded great results (700 of them). Now, not so much. By the way, your grocer USED TO mist the carrots with clean water every so often, so I’m thinking that’s far more healthful than spraying wax on them. I used to just wash them before using, but this makes peeling them a better option.
Sometimes, it is a very good thing to be the person who knows what question to ask. I find the media doesn’t know how to report correctly most of the time. They throw in meaningless info which only muddies the water. They give a personal example which doesn’t truly speak to the issue at hand. For instance, several times recently they have reported things like this: “8 dead in mass attack at a park.” After reading through most of the story you find out the truth. There were 7 (seven) victims of a gunman. Then the gunman committed suicide. The suicide happened hours after the 7 victims were shot, so in reality there were TWO events and the first event only had 7 victims shot. The SECOND event, hours later, was a suicide by the gunman, often in a location distinctly separate from event one. I definitely feel bad for the 7 victims, not so much for the idiot (some don’t like this accurate word) who had nothing to live for after committing the crime. My good question: “Why didn’t he commit suicide FIRST?” Sorry for his mental health, but he didn’t have to harm all those other people, did he!
Another good question I have is about the death penalty failures: “How is it that in Canada a person can get medical assistance to commit suicide which ALWAYS results in death, but in the United States we can’t seem to put death row inmates to death?” A follow-up question: “Why don’t we kill those inmates the same way?” A third: “Is it inhumane? And, if so, why does Canada allow it?” Somebody should be asking these questions.
There are times when you cannot ask the right question. One of those is about other people’s marriages. I’d like to know, for example, how one couple always “agree” on everything. I can’t ask. It would be intrusive. Also, I think I might not like the answer. If that was the case, then I would feel obligated to “solve” the problem. However, it is possible that there is no problem. They might have a perfectly legitimate and healthy relationship. But then I’d be the one in the wrong for asking about something that isn’t any of my business. It would be the wrong question (only in a different way). By the way, hypothetically, constant disagreement is actually far worse.
If you ask the wrong question you almost always will get the wrong answer. There are few right answers to wrong questions.
Copyright 2026 Donald Whelpley
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
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We just were on a trip to Pennsylvania. While there we viewed a cemetery where my grandmother and her sister are buried. My grandmother’s uncle, a Stahlman, spent a good deal of time in the woods and hills near Brookville in the 1890s. There he scribed about 150 Bible verses in huge sandstone rock slabs. We went to Scripture Rock Park and saw about 1/2 of them. Some asked “Is he devout?” Others, “Is he insane?”
Based on what we saw and experienced in that park, I think many were asking the wrong questions. The chiseled letters are carefully and solidly done (not random sizes, shapes, or uneven). There was a message to what he did. Clearly, he was sane and devout. He used a huge slab (larger than some church sanctuaries) as a foundation for seating for those who came to hear him preach. The message? Believe!!!