The why is the only thing that actually matters. The who, the what, the when, the where, even the how amount to nothing beyond the filler …
The why is it. The why is what makes journalism an adult game. The why is what makes policy coherent and useful. The why is what transforms bureaucrats and foot soldiers and political leaders into viable instruments of rational and affirmative change. The why is everything and without it, the very suggestion of human progress becomes a cosmic joke.
And in the American city, at the millennium, the why has ceased to exist.
” - David Simon, creator of The Wire