Blog Post #9- EOTO #2

 One very important theory that most people don't think about is The Overton Window. This theory is something that is very important for politicians to keep in mind or else they most likely will not be successful. The Overton Window is the range of policies that a politician can recommend without appearing too extreme to gain or keep public office given the climate of public opinion at that time. The idea of The Overton Window came from an analyst named Joseph Overton.  The Overton Window is something that is constantly changing everyday and it is growing and shrinking in size depending on what ideas that politicians can and cannot support and how much they can support them.

    This can affect our society because politicians may not share their whole opinion on ideas and situations because they want to make sure that a majority of the people will agree with or else they may not get voted for and people will begin to dislike them. Along with that they may support something that they don't necessarily believe in, in order to get more votes from the majority of the population. Some good things about having The Overton Window is that it can help make everyone think that they are on the same side and have the same beliefs so then no one thinks that they are in the wrong and that they don't belong. Another benefit of it is that it helps politicians get a great political advantage because they will just follow it and then cater to what the people want.

    Some negatives to The Overton Window are that it can vastly change from day to day depending on what is going on in the world and the information we are given. Along with that some politicians also have the ability to change The Overton window, although it is hard to do it is possible and this can and will change the peoples opinion on ideas and situations. Another negative of it is people may feel inclined to have the same opinions as others because that is what The Overton Window says is politically correct.

    One way that The Overton Window may affect different groups of people is that certain groups may have completely different opinions than the majority of people and their opinions may be different than what The Overton Window says most people think. One current example of this would be sports and whether or not people who are transgender should be able to participate . The Overton Window may say one thing is what most people think is the correct answer to this situation therefore politicians will say they agree with that while there will still be small groups of people who think differently. 

    Another example of how The Overton Window affects different groups of people is the current backlash that Bud Light is receiving after having a transgender influencer sponsor their brand. In this case we could see that through The Overton Window people were against it as Bud Light is losing millions of dollars as celebrities like Riley Green, Brantley Gilbert, Kid Rock and many more are sending their messages in different ways that they disagree with what Bud Light did. This is a great example of how people are going to continue to side with boycotting Bud Light because that is what The Overton Window is saying what is politically correct.    

    The Overton window affects me because I am normally inclined to agree with what a majority of people think and what the politicians think. Therefore whatever it says that most people are agreeing with is what I would agree with. Along with that The Overton Window can change which then also in turn changes my opinions on the idea or the situation going on.