At its best, wondering combines doubting and dreaming in a powerful partnership to test value. We would hope that all of our young will acquire the inclination and the skills to wonder about the authority of a particular Web site, the reliability of information put forth by a TV or radio station and the worth of a politician’s proposal.
Wondering should occur throughout every day of one’s life, whether it be about the small issues or the large ones.
“I wonder what’s the best way to get around this traffic jam?”“I wonder what’s going to happen in the election today?”“I wonder how I will adjust if my candidate loses?”
Sadly, wonder can also serve the interests of social control as politicians extending as far back as the Roman Empire have run a circus of one kind or another in order to win the hearts and minds of the populace.
Tribalism, propaganda and marketing depend as much upon magic and wonder as churches, social movements, prophets and revolutionaries. Some of these uses of wonder are heavenly, inspirational and divine, while others are evil to the core, trusting to the power of magic and wonder to sway the feelings and the fears of unsuspecting folk in order to capture their obedience.
A photograph can provoke the most profound emotional reactions, whether they be feelings of wonder or horror. In current times, these images are used repeatedly in the war for human sympathy for one cause or another. The tie between horror and wonder is strong and the distance between them is all too small.