Overton claimed that politicians typically act freely only within the “window” of those seen as acceptable. After his death, his Mackinac Center for Public Policy colleague, Joseph Lehman, further developed the idea and named it after him.[7]
The most common misconception is that lawmakers themselves are in the business of shifting the Overton window. That is absolutely false. Lawmakers are actually in the business of detecting where the window is, and then moving to be in accordance with it.
The core claim I’m making is that political discourse is the primary means of moving the Overton window. Now politicians operate within it, sure. And they form a part of the discourse, too. And if you think politicians aren’t interested in the power of shifting the Overton window then I wonder how you interpret the existence of propaganda for example?
Politicians pay for polls and then respond to the public sentiment. If they go against public opinion it’s usually to benefit the rich so there’s little bandwidth for other things. You’re thinking of influencers, entirely different profession. Some politicians are both, the president of Germany isn’t.
Do you think politicians would influence public opinion if they could? I believe politicians would pay nearly any price to be able to do that. I also think that anyone telling you that politicians are not in the business of influencing public thought are either very naive or lying to you, your link above notwithstanding.
I’m not thinking of influencers, I was thinking of propaganda, which is when a politician attempts to influence public thought. Sometimes it’s very clumsy, sometimes it’s very slick. Some times it’s ineffective, others not so much.
Think about how many representatives you have in your parliament wherever you live. How many can you name? That’s your regular politicians. Do they influence or are they there to vote per party line?
President of Germany has about as much power. He represents the country in terms of diplomacy and that’s it. This news piece is essentially „Germany concerned with the way world is changing”. Will this change anyone’s opinion on the matter? No.
that’s a bit reductive. there’s a time for action and a time for words. also important for recording what is happening.
it’s no one elses job to save America from itself. we just need to decouple and look after our own interests and be prepared to act if America crosses the line with us (cf. Greenland.)
i get it. i’m frustrated too. but while the US admin are fascist assholes, they haven’t done anything to us YET to warrant too hard of a response.
what we should be doing is aggressively decoupling. no more US weapons, stop favoring US companies, independent EU tech stack, local defense buildup, things like this.
that’s a good thing to be concerned about, i agree. words and actions must go together. lets make sure we let our governments know that we want them to cut off the US.
Why? Is there a risk that someone in power might not know it? This is not news, it’s PR.
because it works against normalization.
Normalisation will happen based on whether someone is going do something about it, not whether we talk about it.
That’s not right. The Overton window shifts based primarily on political discourse. Politicians saying things has an (often measurable) effect.
The core claim I’m making is that political discourse is the primary means of moving the Overton window. Now politicians operate within it, sure. And they form a part of the discourse, too. And if you think politicians aren’t interested in the power of shifting the Overton window then I wonder how you interpret the existence of propaganda for example?
Politicians pay for polls and then respond to the public sentiment. If they go against public opinion it’s usually to benefit the rich so there’s little bandwidth for other things. You’re thinking of influencers, entirely different profession. Some politicians are both, the president of Germany isn’t.
Do you think politicians would influence public opinion if they could? I believe politicians would pay nearly any price to be able to do that. I also think that anyone telling you that politicians are not in the business of influencing public thought are either very naive or lying to you, your link above notwithstanding. I’m not thinking of influencers, I was thinking of propaganda, which is when a politician attempts to influence public thought. Sometimes it’s very clumsy, sometimes it’s very slick. Some times it’s ineffective, others not so much.
Think about how many representatives you have in your parliament wherever you live. How many can you name? That’s your regular politicians. Do they influence or are they there to vote per party line?
President of Germany has about as much power. He represents the country in terms of diplomacy and that’s it. This news piece is essentially „Germany concerned with the way world is changing”. Will this change anyone’s opinion on the matter? No.
that’s a bit reductive. there’s a time for action and a time for words. also important for recording what is happening.
it’s no one elses job to save America from itself. we just need to decouple and look after our own interests and be prepared to act if America crosses the line with us (cf. Greenland.)
I think we had enough of time for words. Will there ever be a time for action? If not, then maybe we didn’t need as many words.
i get it. i’m frustrated too. but while the US admin are fascist assholes, they haven’t done anything to us YET to warrant too hard of a response.
what we should be doing is aggressively decoupling. no more US weapons, stop favoring US companies, independent EU tech stack, local defense buildup, things like this.
Sounds as though your position is “words do not mean things” to me.
Just that professional speakers can be very good at using lots of words while saying very little, which can also serve the purpose of doing nothing.
that’s a good thing to be concerned about, i agree. words and actions must go together. lets make sure we let our governments know that we want them to cut off the US.