My Favourite

The favourite, something we all want to be. The favourite is the most loved, popular and preferred. Aren’t they?

Favourite - ‘a person or thing that is preferred to all others of the same kind or is especially well liked.’ – Oxford Online English Dictionary 2012. After reading this and thinking about something that I would consider ‘My favourite’, I found it hard all of a sudden to decide. Writing about my favourite person for example; ‘a person that I prefer to all others of the same kind’ - Oxford Online English Dictionary 2012, would prove an almost impossible task. How on earth would I be able to find a person of the same kind as someone else? How do you separate people into ‘kinds’? Does that mean putting people into categories?

The noun ‘kind’ ‘a group of people or things having similar characteristics’ - Oxford Online English Dictionary 2012, led me no closer to a conclusion. However, it was something on the same page, ‘one’s own kind’ (people with whom one has a great deal in common’ - Oxford Online English Dictionary 2012) that I found most interesting. Surely if you were to use this in conversation it would be suggesting that you were better than someone else or that you would not mix with someone who was different to you. If I do not stand corrected that is borderline racism.  When you think of the expression ‘someone’s kind’, for example ‘I don’t apologise to her kind’ it is always used to express disapproval towards a certain type of person. The use of the word ‘type’ is similar to ‘brand’. We ‘brand’ objects, a popular ‘brand’ of ketchup. I’m not sure I would want to be branded. Suddenly, people have become objects. Maybe it isn’t always such a coveted position to be ‘the favourite’.

Favouritism for instance, ‘the practice of giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another’ - Oxford Online English Dictionary 2012 as children and even as adults we resent the subjects of favouritism. When someone is receiving preferential treatment you begin to question your significance. Why are you not preferred? We strive to be the favourite, be it for our own egos, for the feeling of being the chosen one or even to feel wanted.

Being the favourite comes with the pressure to remain the favourite. It becomes difficult to understand, in an instance where you are treated the same as everyone else, why are you not being favoured? The need to remain the favourite means conforming to someone else’s preferences. Do you lose your own identity?

Perhaps to be the favourite is not always best? When stopping to consider someone else’s feelings, is it better to all be equal? Perhaps, picking a favourite should be kept to objects rather than objectifying humans. The importance of equality is always being expressed yet surely we are discriminating against someone else by saying we prefer them to someone else? Its better surely to be the person you prefer to be, than be preferred most to someone else.  From experience this only creates a false relationship with someone.