"Why don't they just...?"

[randomness]

tb recently shared with me a rant about people who start a sentence with "Why don't they just...?" I don't want to misquote her and I very much want to hear her in own words if she's willing to share them here. But I did find a post about this very phrase in a very different context that I thought was worth a repost.

From Why don't they just...?":

It seems every time I come across a story about the Mars Curiosity rover there will be many people commenting on the technology used starting with "Why don't they just..?" and usually pointing out things like: the processor in their smart phone is way faster than the one of Mars, or they have way more memory on their iPad, or their digital camera is way better than the one sending back pictures. These "Why don't they just..?" questions are both annoying and to be expected.

Annoying because the underlying thought is "Those NASA/JPL guys are so dumb LOL" and to be expected and encouraged because we wouldn't make any progress without asking questions and, in particular, asking why.

But it doesn't take much research to find the answer. (Even though I'm tempted to answer: "Because it's on friggin' Mars, doofus!")

Ultimately after listing some of the reasons why the situation isn't as simple as the askers think it is, he adds an excellent suggestion:

But rather than explaining all this stuff, I think there's a better way: build, land and operate a rover here on Earth.

It's too bad that sort of suggestion isn't a possibility in many of the other situations where people ask, "Why don't they just...?"

Comments

[redbird]

The one that really annoys me is "why don't you just..." where often the "just" is some combination of difficult, expensive, or ineffective (such as dubious or impractical but possibly well-meant medical advice), or shows that the person asking "why don't you?" hasn't been listening to the person they are trying to give advice to. For example, if someone says they're looking for a better job because they hate the one they have now, they might welcome the information that "XYZ is hiring" or be open to "the community college offers courses in bookkeeping," but "why don't you just get a different job?" would be infuriating.

The "why don't you just?" people tend not to listen to any answer that actually gives a reason why not: "I tried that and it didn't work" or "because it would cost five thousand dollars I don't have." It's as if they are more concerned with knowing more than you do than with actually helping.

At this point, "Why don't you just..." feels like some weird combination of accusation (as if I should have thought of this on my own, done it six months ago, and not have the problem anymore) and claim of superiority, even when it doesn't come from a position of ignorance. It's possible that at some point this will mean I miss an actual good suggestion that I would consider if it was phrased as "have you tried..." or "I read about something that might work."