Overton Window

There are ideas you can say out loud and ideas you can't. The boundary between them is not fixed — and it can be moved on purpose.

The Overton Window describes the range of positions considered acceptable in mainstream public debate. Anything inside the window is "reasonable." Anything outside is "extreme," "radical," or "unthinkable." This window isn't set by logic or evidence. It's set by repetition, media exposure, and social pressure.

Here's what makes it powerful: you don't have to convince people that an extreme idea is right. You just have to make them hear it enough times that it stops sounding extreme. Introduce something outrageous, and suddenly the merely controversial looks moderate by comparison. The window shifts — and everyone adjusts without realizing they moved.

Politicians and media figures do this routinely. Float an extreme proposal. Let people react. Then offer the "compromise" — which is what you actually wanted all along. The public feels like the system worked. In reality, the entire debate was moved to new ground.

Notice what feels "obviously true" to you. A decade ago, it might have been unthinkable. A decade from now, it might be again. The window moved. The question is whether it moved because people thought harder — or because someone pushed.

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References

• George Lakoff — Don't Think of an Elephant! (2004)
• Edward S. Herman & Noam Chomsky — Manufacturing Consent (1988)