TITLE: Questions
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: January 10, 2020  2:25 PM
DESC: 
-----
BODY:
 I recently read
<A HREF="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/the-world-is-of-course-insane-errol-morris-interview">
   an interview</A>
 with documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, who has unorthodox
 opinions about documentaries and how to make them.  In
 particular, he prefers to build his films out of extended
 interviews with a single subject.  These interviews give
 him all the source material he needs, because they aren't
 about questions and answers.  They are about stories:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 First of all, I think all questions are more or less rhetorical
 questions.  No one wants their questions answered.  They just
 want to state their question.  And, in answering the question,
 the person never wants to answer the question.  They just want
 to talk.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

 Morris isn't asking questions; he is stating them.  His subjects
 are not answering questions; they are simply talking.

 (Think about this the next time your listening to an interview
 with a politician or candidate for office...)

 At first, I was attracted to the sentiment in this paragraph.
 Then I became disillusioned with what I took to be its cynicism.
 Now, though, after a week or so, I am again enamored with its
 insight.
 
 How many of the questions I ask of software clients and
 professional colleagues are really statements of a position?
 How many of their answers are disconnected from the essential
 element of my questions?  Even when these responses are
 disconnected, they communicate a lot to me, if only I listen.
 My clients and colleagues are often telling me exactly what
 they want me to know.
 
 This dynamic is present surprisingly often when I work with
 students at the university, too.  I need to listen carefully
 when students don't seem to be answering my question.
 Sometimes it's because they have misinterpreted the question,
 and I need to ask differently.  Sometimes it's because they
 are telling me what they want me to know, irrespective of
 the question.

 And when my questions aren't really questions, but statements
 or some other speech act...  well, I know I have some work
 to do.

 In case you find Morris's view on interviews cynical and
 would prefer to ponder the new year with greater hope, I'll
 leave you with a more ambiguous quote about questions:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 There are years that ask questions, and years that answer.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

 That's from <EM>Their Eyes Were Watching God</EM>, by Zora
 Neale Hurston.  In hindsight, it may be true or false for any
 given year.  As a way to frame the coming months, though, it
 may be useful.

 I hope that 2020 brings you the answers you seek, or the
 questions.
-----