People are always asked what their favorite this-or-that is, as if one item has to stand out above all the rest. There’s an assumed inflexible hierarchy in that question. The same way we impose human notions of hierarchy on the natural world, we impose that same dynamic on our personal preferences.

Personally, I don’t have favorites. Never have. When asked what my favorite this-or-that is, I always have to consider it in the form of some nebulous algorithm to narrow down my choices before giving an answer; an answer which always feels false, leaving me questioning myself for not being honest and admitting that I have no favorite this-or-that that supersedes all others regardless of context.

My preferences are based on utility along with aesthetic. For instance, if I had a favorite color for clothing, it wouldn’t necessarily translate into my color preferences for automobiles, and vice versa. Secondly, my preferred clothing changes depending on the activity or occasion. Nor am I alone in my approach to “favorite”. Many people who claim to have a favorite color above all others, unwittingly compartmentalize that same preference. They don’t prefer that same color for everything. For instance, many women prefer the color pink (supposedly), but how often have you seen pink furniture, pink carpet, pink walls or tapestries?

The same goes for art and music and everything else. People go through phases; the way Picasso went through his ‘blue’ phase and his ‘rose’ phase. But in modern developed societies, peoples’ tastes are largely determined by the advertising industry and its evil spawn, pop-culture. That’s why the question “what is your favorite?” sounds so crass to me; something vapid and fickle pretending to be important. It’s straight out of the consumer advertising playbook; conditioning us in terms of favorites increases the likelihood of brand loyalty.

In traditional cultures a person’s ‘favorite’ was more organic and innate and served the individual instead of manipulators wooing them from TV screens and iPhones. Perhaps in that context I could actually have favorites.