How do people answer questions like this?

As I've mentioned before my wife and I are members of the Gallup Panel, which means we participate in surveys and polls regularly.  Most of them are more consumer-oriented than political, although the first question on every survey is whether you approve or disapprove of the president's performance.

Recently I participated in a survey on movies and entertainment.  The survey asked "what is your favorite movie?"

I'm very curious that many people seem to find it easy to answer questions like this.  Ask them their favorite movie or book, and they can tell you right away.  It's kind of like your favorite color.  We ask children what's their favorite color, thereby communicating that people do have favorite colors and making them think they should have a favorite color, too.

But do we really have single favorites that stand above them all?  For me, I'd say that there are many movies and books I've loved, but each is different and often my love for them was at a particular time in my life, and at a different time I didn't feel the same.  Asking me to choose between them is like asking me to choose between apples and oranges (literally) or spring and fall.  Colors too.

For me, a better question from Gallup would have been "What is one of your favorite movies?" Or even better, "What are three of your favorite movies?"

But, since I'm trying to be a good Gallup panel member and they asked me what my favorite movie was, I thought about it.  A pretty diverse set of movies came to mind, such as Godfather (part 1 or part 2, who can decide), Manhattan (superior for my taste than Annie Hall), and Silence of the Lambs (disturbing I know but dang that movie just seems perfect in every scene).  I even thought about White Men Can't Jump, certainly one of my favorites although not quite as deeply satisfying.

I didn't spend too long agonizing over it, but finally I decided to go with Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing.   If I've got to pick one, then that seems pretty good -- smart, funny, deep, different, makes you think and feel.  But ask me another day and you might get another answer.

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[george calhoun]

i was taking polls
i got new email address