The Harsh Couch - 2015.05.05 Overton window

#1

When there is bipartisan support, that means something really bad is happening.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at http://theharshcouch.com/thc/2015-05-05/
#2

Where was the Orwell?

#3

The Orwell has been missed two weeks in a row.

There will be words.

#4

Is it a problem if I mention Dostoyevsky?

#5

Nope. I’ve put it into the running order for this week!

Note that the show is going to be two days late this week … Harry wants Thursday and we decided some thinking time after the Budget might be in order.

So, although we (sans Harry) might have an informal gathering on the live channel tonight at the usual time, this week’s “show” is 56 hours away (as I write) …

#6

I can’t tell y’all how much peace the idea of the Overton window brought me this week …

At least it did, until I discovered a book by Glenn Beck entitled “The Overton Window” … although that made a great deal more sense of the whole Fox News happening/performance art … (the book was ghostwritten) …

#7

I’d appreciated the concept and it’s good to have a name for it. I like it.

Looking at Australian media intermittently from a distance, it seems like the Overton Window is very narrow. You have two entrenched camps - the harrumphing Murdoch Right and the tedious earnest Left - and not much in between. They know their respective catechisms and screech at each other, happy with their respective moral highgrounds.

From what little I’ve seen of Q&A (mainly smh.com.au’s puppy love replays of the last night’s show), it’s about tossing out crowdpleasing platitudes with inane twitter subtitles, part of the problem and not a solution.

On the other hand, the Australian version of the Conversation site is interesting reading, although it doesn’t broaden the window that much.

Overall, there’s not much of a marketplace of ideas.

But maybe that’s due to my poor sampling of Australian media.

#8

Keane references the Overton window in today’s Crikey.