A Polish friend of mine – an academic – recently flew to the United States, and before boarding was asked by her carrier a number of security questions, including “Who is your favorite American president?” and “Who is your favorite American writer?” How wonderful if she had said:
“Thomas Jefferson – I like his line that if made to choose between a government without newspapers and newspapers without a government he wouldn’t hesitate to choose the latter. As for writers, Philip Roth – especially The Plot Against America.”
Whatever her answers, she found the questions odd, as do I, not least because most Americans, if asked similar questions before flying to almost any country, would be hard-pressed to come up with any names.
