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The Overton Window

Entry 2350, on 2024-06-19 at 14:58:44 (Rating 3, Politics)

Have you noticed how stuff that used to be quite well accepted is now not tolerated by what seems like large parts of society? Have you noticed how some things which would be considered ridiculous or even dangerous in the past are not considered OK? Or maybe you used to support a particular political party, but now find you cannot any longer because they don't follow your values any more.

What's happening here? Is it you who is changing while the rest of the world is still the same? Well maybe, because people's opinions do change over time, or at least they should, but that is only part of the story, because a bigger factor might be how societal values change, or at least the values of some of the "leaders" in society.

By the way, I put the word leaders in quotes because many people only reluctantly accept that those leaders have influence. Not many people are actually enthusiastic about politicians, managers, or cultural icons like movie and music stars.

So what is considered "appropriate" by the most prominent people in society (such as those categories of person I listed above) changes over time. This is a phenomenon often referred to as the "Overton Window", or the "Overton Window of Political Possibility", named after Joseph Overton, who initially proposed the idea.

I will now give an example, and I apologise in advance for picking such an obvious one, but it is politically relevant today. Trans "women" (people born as men who transitioned to being a woman, or pretend to be a woman, depending on your perspective) would never have been allowed to compete against "real" women in events such as sport, or beauty contests in the past, but now it is considered correct, and anyone disagreeing is considered to be phobic and wrong.

Now I strongly suspect that the majority of people would actually reject this new perspective, and more closely follow the ideas of the past, but the leaders (please just accept that this word is quoted in future, because these people aren't true leaders) are pushing it hard. The Overton Window has swung strongly in the direction of "trans rights".

And you will notice many places where what was once considered common sense and reasonable has now been labelled as "inappropriate" or "conspiracy minded". These particularly occur in politically active social issues such as climate change, indigenous rights, LGBT rights, and social justice.

Note that I am not saying that these issues aren't worth considering, but what I am saying is that the range of "respectable" (there seem to be a lot of quotes in this post) opinions has changed. What used to be mainstream is now considered impolite, incorrect, or even illegal.

Social norms change over time, and that is perfectly appropriate, but they don't always change for the better, and sometimes they swing from one extreme to another, so we should neither automatically accept nor reject the new direction the Overton Window is pointing.

Here's an example of where bias was clearly in place as a result of political norms rather than what was right or wrong: before Elon Musk took over Twitter, many people on the right of politics in the US (I mean the moderate right, not the far right), even Donald Trump himself, were banned, but the Taliban, the world's most active and harmful terror organisation, was allowed. Really?

By the way, I'm sorry to again use Twitter as an example of political trends, but it really is what shows us the direction society is going, ahead of anything else. Despite the poor opinion many people have, it is where the action is!

There is one last point I need to make here. Anything that isn't in the window needs to be taken seriously. Current trends need to be examined carefully. What is off to the left of the window currently, or more likely to the right, because it has currently swung well left, might be in the middle tomorrow.

So don't be too concerned if your opinions are currently unpopular. The window never stands still. It is difficult to support ideas outside of the window, but it is critical that we all do, otherwise it will never return to a sensible place.

Comment 1 (7663) by EK on 2024-06-23 at 16:11:44:

That popular, seemingly majority views and opinions in politics, ethics, justice, aesthetics etc. can change quite suddenly and profoundly, just like vogues and fads, is well known. (I wasn’t aware of the concept of Overton’s Window.) Apart from the phenomenology, what causes such swings is even more intriguing. In fashion it is the dictate of the crazy whimsies of the self-appointed fashion tsars and other arbitres elegantiarum that are responsible. Then it is probably the market force and human herd stupidity. The influence of charismatic persons is one possible answer.But what brought about the revolution in gender/sex perception? Or why was NZ first in granting women the vote? Why has even the pope accepted homosexual marriage (as far as I know). Etc. etc. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Comment 2 (7664) by OJB on 2024-06-23 at 16:52:48:

I would offer an explanation based on "Social Darwinism". Essentially new ideas arise at random, and those which best fit the current social situation are selected for. Because science and technology have given us more and more comfortable living conditions we can afford to have more "generous" social norms, so ideas favouring those are advanced. For example, we don't need slavery any more, because of mechanisation, so when the idea of eliminating it comes along, more or less randomly, it suits the current situation and becomes popular. What do you think?

Comment 3 (7665) by EK on 2024-06-23 at 19:45:20:

Yes, that sounds reasonable. You’ll be happy to know that you are in the good company of Max Weber (the famous sociologist). Being generous and liberal is causally connected with economic, material conditions.By your theory (or shall I say hypothesis, having Popper in mind) NZ around the turn of the previous century must have been wealthy, happy and economically sound to grant females equal elective rights (contrary to much of human history and apparent species proclivities). Here is hoping that we get there again.

Comment 4 (7666) by OJB on 2024-06-23 at 20:47:59:

Of course, I'm not claiming I created the idea, and also agree it is a hypothesis only at this point. I don't know enough details of our history to know whether it fits with giving women the vote at that time. I just hope that some of the ideas floating around at the moment fail the test and disappear when better ones appear.

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