What makes for a “good” question? It may seem like a pointless question to ask. After all, “there are no stupid questions” can seem like a reasonable adage and I would personally support it insofar as encouraging people not to be shy of asking questions for fear of being looked down upon. We are all ignorant in various ways all of the time, so having a healthy question asking and answering culture is important.

But even if we were to agree there are no “stupid” questions, I think we can also agree there are degrees of dishonestly phrased questions. And as these are sometimes consciously weaponized in political discourse, it’s important to have awareness of them.

Consider the following examples:

“What is known about John Doe’s views on race?” <- This draws attention to the subject of John Doe and race, and although it could, depending on surrounding context and implications, draw suspicion to John Doe, it is more investigative in nature than anything else. It is not in itself leaning toward one conclusion or another. Outside of other context, it could be coming from a place of pure curiosity, of a desire to investigate suspicion, or other reasons, and it could be there is a presumption of positive views or negative views or anywhere in-between.

“Do you think John Doe hates black people?” <- Now we’re getting much more explicit and pointed. This implies there is some reason out there to believe that John Doe hates black people. Maybe there is reason to suspect, but if there is, why is it being asked as a question and not as presenting evidence? Of course, there are contexts where phrasing like this might make more sense than others. If someone just said “John Doe is racist,” this may make perfect sense as a followup question. The point here is not universal standards that apply to every situation, but to understand generally how the question format can be misused. This phrasing also narrows the window of Q&A. Where the previous one was more open-ended and could more readily be answered with “I don’t know”, this one is nudging you toward taking a stance on something you may know nothing about in a way that could help cement a narrative about a particular person.

“Why does John Doe hate black people?” <- Now something specific is already being presumed within the question. This kind of phrasing isn’t always dishonest or misleading. Asking “why did it rain last night?” is a valid question if there is evidence that is rained last night. However, if this is out of context of evidence that John Doe is racist toward black people, it’s not so much a question as it is a claim disguised as a question. Does John Doe hate black people? I think that would be important to establish before we try to answer why.

So with the above in mind, we can try to extrapolate some general concepts for asking honest questions and answering questions with awareness of how they can be warped:

• Try to include evidence for information that a question presumes, unless it is impractical or unnecessary (e.g. “why is this shirt that I’m pointing at purple” probably doesn’t need explanation if the people involved are all sighted and can see that it’s purple, but “why is this shirt made of particles from the planet Quoptarl” does).

• Consider the goal. Are you looking for information, genuinely, or are you looking for other people to validate something you already believe? If it’s the 2nd one, you may be inclined to ask in a presumptive way rather than leaving things somewhat open-ended. In which case, you can state your take and see if people agree or not: “I think X” instead of “do you think X”?

• Answer questions on your own terms. Don’t feel like you have to answer the exact question you have been asked.

• Keep in view the presence of narrative and bias. No question is neutral. This does not mean everybody is consciously trying to be biased all the time, but that every question has a focus of attention and as such, leaves out other things. It will also be influenced by a person’s background/circumstances/worldview/etc. And even the language that they use! English is only one of many.

• Ask followup questions where needed. This goes both ways. You don’t have to only ask one question at a time. If the format allows you to explain why you are asking your question and what about, you can absolutely do that. You can ask for more information from somebody who gives an answer. And on the flip side, you can ask a questioner for more information on where they are coming from. A question does not have to be responded to with an answer. Sometimes it can be responded to with another question! A classic example is in the Monty Python and the Holy Grail segment with the trickster-like person at the bridge of death. “What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?” “What do you mean, african or european?” He flips it around on the questioner and in doing so, “defeats” the trickster.

Now I ask you: What did I fuck up on here? (This question presumes that I feel insecure about what I wrote in some way, and could be seeking validation or trying to pre-empt criticism by criticizing myself first. It could also be that I’m getting meta to make a further teaching point and need a nap.)