The Why Project
Ask why.
Polarization is at a level we’ve never seen, and the way back together is understanding each other, which starts with one question: why.
We are subject to the most sophisticated, well-funded persuasion campaigns in human history, on every side at once, and we haven’t adjusted to what that means. The food industry engineered us to crave the wrong things for decades; nothing changed until we learned to read the label. We need the same instinct for what comes through a screen.
The Why Project is a movement, a daily practice, and a growing body of research and series of works, all centered on asking why. Who’s telling me this, why now, what do they gain, and how would I actually know if it’s true?
Words
All words →Contested words taken apart — where the precise, legal meaning ends and rhetoric begins. We start with the most loaded one of all.
Genocide
LiveSource-cited genocide cases and essays — acts, intent, recognition, and where the 1948 legal definition actually applies.
Explore the word →Antisemitism
LiveThe history of “Semite,” the competing definitions (IHRA, JDA, Nexus, the 3D test), and public cases tested against each one, line by line.
Explore the word →Islamophobia
LiveThe contested “-phobia,” the competing definitions (Runnymede, the APPG, the OIC, the secular position), and public cases tested against each one, line by line.
Explore the word →Zionism
LiveThe Rorschach word — self-determination or settler-colonialism? The competing definitions, the strands, and public figures tested against each: those who claim the label, and those who fit it but reject it.
Explore the word →Apartheid
LiveBoth a place and a crime. The paradigm is settled — the fight is how far the word travels: to Israel/Palestine, Myanmar, and inequalities with nothing to do with race. The definitions, and cases sorted by whether the label applies.
Explore the word →Colonialism
LiveA clear paradigm — the European empires — but no treaty definition, so the word travels everywhere: from settler colonialism and neo-colonialism to “data,” “green,” and “space” colonialism. The definitions, and cases sorted by whether the label applies.
Explore the word →Works
All works →The same ask-why habit in a different form — essays, film, and music that make the questions land.
Mamdani?! The Musical
In devNew York politics, polarized debate, and the ask-why habit behind this site — told through story and song.
See the work →Coming soon
More ways to train the same instinct — in progress.
Numbers
PlannedDeath tolls, polls, models — how figures get framed, inflated, and contested.
Sources
PlannedThe incentives, funding, and veracity behind the people making a claim.
Recent work
The latest pieces we’ve published.
Words · Case
NewIs Elon Musk antisemitic? An endorsed “Great Replacement” post and a disputed arm gesture — weighed line by line against the four most-cited definitions of antisemitism.
Read the case →Words · Case
OngoingIs Gaza a genocide? The acts, the intent evidence, the official findings, and the disputes — with every source and its credibility laid out.
Read the dossier →Works · Essay
NewWar, War Crime, or Genocide? When civilians die by the tens of thousands, which is it? The legal ladder — and why the body count doesn’t decide the top rung.
Read the essay →