"How" and "What" require useful responses, while "Why" will almost always result in made-up answers, or the person asking them is not really seeking an answer. "Why do liberals want to kill unborn babies?" is not really looking for an answer, but is a way to initiate a smear-fest. "Why does the Right have such a love affair with their guns?" is also not seeking any real answers, and is also a platform to bash the right.
Listen to children. They can "Why" you to death! And listen to your responses getting less and less based on reality. A child may ask:
"Why do cats purr?"
The truth is, we still don't know, but parents rarely say "I don't know". If we could transfer our consciousness into a cat's body and experience the reason, we could answer that, but we cannot, so any answer is just conjecture.
"How do cats purr?", or "What research has been done concerning their purring?" are far more interesting and require a truthful, objective, answer, than the listener's subjective one, which is probably not true.
Let us bring this down into an adult world.
In the American slug-fest over the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there is a question "Why are some of Obama's crony's getting exemptions?" And people are getting all emotional over this "Why".
In this issue of the Washington Post it exposed that those making this "why" are doing so based on misinformation and their feelings about it. As such, people asking "Why" are not interested in an answer, but are using it to cry out "I feel that it is corrupt!". The "Why" is never the real question. Rather "What" or "How" are the real adult ways to question when one wants an answer. Because "Why" will often require that you have the ability to jump into the minds of the people who made that decision, with the belief that you can provide a truthful response. But you cannot.
Now, to ask the adult question: "What companies are exempt" and "How are companies exempt" require honest answers. And if you go to the federal web site, you will see that the real answers are available, meaning that "exempt" has been misused by those who love "Why", and you can see the details of a temporary delayed implementation of a specific point for a maximum of one year for those who would suffer by doing otherwise.
"What" and "How" require specific details that can be found and provided. "Why" goes to those who hold that what one feels, or one's subjective perception of something has any validity as a real answer.
The question put to your son, "Why did you hit your little brother?" will get you the kid's feelings, his thoughts, or perhaps an "I don't know", but you won't hear the truth.
The question, "Why did the U.S. economy take a nose-dive?" will not get an honest single answer either, while "How" and "What" requires a list of specific objective items to support the "How" and "What", while "Why" requires no evidence whatsoever, and might even bring forth another "Why" and another, in a never-ending cycle.
So the next time you hear some emotional rant, start counting the number of "Why" that comes out, and ask yourself "Is there a "What" or "How" that can address this?" And if there is not, then it's a childish expression that was not really asking anything. However, if there is a "How" or "What", then one can have an adult conversation that is looking for real answers.
Why not give it a try? ;)
