card-num-159-500x385

What Is The Overton Window?

Hey there!

We live in an age of stark political and social division, nearly instantaneous conflict on social media, and polarizing issues that are hard to find rational discussion.

Whew! And you wonder why some people don’t even want to crack a browser and see what’s going on in the world.

I may have a partial explanation as to why things are so raw these days: we may be spending too much time in the extreme edges of the Overton Window.

Let me explain.


(Click/tap ↑↑↑↑↑↑ that red YouTube button to subscribe to my channel. You’ll get notified when I release new videos.)

Hope this helps!

David

All Episodes

One Step At A Time

Five Ways To Have An Excellent Coffee Date With Me

Five Ways To Have A Crappy Coffee Date With Me

Taking Advantage Of The Wisdom Of The Tribe

How To Be A World Class Complainer

The False Nobility Of The Struggle

Watch Out – The Rules Are Going To Change

“Show Me The Secret, Daddy!”

Coaching vs Consulting vs Facilitating

The Perils of Live Performance And Why Jeremy Kappell Should Not Have Been Fired

Let’s Welcome To The Stage…Failure!

Don’t Confuse Price With Value

Whiteboards In The Hallways

Go Wake Up Your Luck

Playing and Planning

The Two Things Most Talent Try to Accomplish Way Too Soon

10,000 Hours To Become Good At Something? Not Really.

The Curse of Knowledge

The Trick Charlie Munger Uses To Make Better Decisions

Everyone’s A Customer, Not Just Your Customers

“What do you mean, you’re a ‘process guy’?”

Pay Attention To Your Storytelling, Not Removing Your Breaths

How To Conquer FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

The Problem In Every Commercial Script

The Job In Every Commercial Script

The Secret In Every Commercial Script

How To Pick Your Stage Name

Voice Over Is REALLY Hard. Until It Isn’t.

Helping Make Resolutions Stick

ACX Jobs: They’re ALL SAG-AFTRA-Friendly

Non-Union? You Can Still Open An AFTRA H&R Account. What?

Who Says You Need To “Feel Like It?”

Are You Engaged?

Your Day Job Might Just Be Worth Keeping For A Bit Longer

Want To Learn Something Really Well? Teach It To Others

Don’t Confuse What Works With What You Like

The Lost Keys And The Microphone In My Elevator

My Insane Backup System Plus Two Helpful Tips

What Open Loops Are And Why They Work So Well

Two More Things For Which You Can Use Open Loops

Three Things Not To Say Or Do…When Trying To Learn Something New

Front Burner and Back Burner Project Management

How To Properly List The Accents and Dialects You Perform

My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 1)

My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 2)

A Simple, One-Word Decision-Making Question To Ask Yourself

Ready, Shoot…Aim

How You Can Use The MVP Model As A Performer

How Lazy Can You Be?

Avoid The Struggle Porn

The Robocall Equivalent Of Unsubscribe

Saying Goodbye To A “Failure”

Making Your Links Irresistible

HTTPS Is Not Just For Banks – It’s For You

The Threat That Made Me Create a New Page For LAME

The Resource You Must Guard Most Carefully

How New Media Is Using The Oldest Ad Model Ever

“You Could Be Hit By A Bus!”

Killing Customers With Kindness

I Found Out What She Was Podcasting About

How I Answered Voices.com’s Inquiry

Turning Mountains Into Molehills

Motivation: Your Three Big Needs In A Cool Little Package

Go Ahead. Multitask. But Try It Like This.

The Prodigy Game Doesn’t Deserve This Treatment

I Don’t Want To Go Blind

What Fair Markets Are, And Why Voices.com Isn’t One

Trevor’s Three A’s From Apple On Killing Customers With Kindness

Getting Ready vs. Getting Started

You’ll Never Believe Who Got Rejected By Harvard

There Is No Failure, Only Feedback

Who Is Your Most Dangerous Adversary?

73 Videos In, My First Hater Appears

If You’re The Smartest Person In The Room, Do This ASAP

Your Glasses And Crucial Laptop Positioning Info

One More Insanely Over-engineered Piece Of Gear: My UPS

The Crazy Backward Way IKEA Prices Their Stuff

Voices.com Complained To YouTube That I Violated Their Privacy

The Gig Economy: RIP?

For Your Health: Not Perfect. Just Better.

Celebrate Your Isolation!

Mr. Wonderful Is Actually More Wonderful Than I Thought

Let’s Finally Close The Digital Literacy Gender Gap

The Guaranteed Way To Completely Avoid Criticism

The Two Things People Judge About You Within Seconds

Prioritizing…Nashville Style

Are You Committed? Or Just…Interested?

Audible Retail Samples: Why They Suck And Why It Doesn’t Really Matter

How To Voice Copy That’s Set In Italics

Dyslexia, And The Palindromic Poem. The Wha?

Increase Your Chances Of Being Seen And Heard On Facebook

Jamie Has Some Thoughts About Fiverr

Is Simply Discouraging Distracted Driving Enough?

“Young People Are Just Smarter.”

The Real Purpose Of The “Can You Hear Me?” Phone Scam

Beware Of Overkill

Laying Down The Perfect Slate

An AMA Preview: The Word “Ethnic” – A Slur, Or An Essential Adjective?

10 Rules of Profitable Self Discipline from Napoleon Hill

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 1)

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 2)

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 3)

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 4)

AMA Answers Part 5 Plus A Medical Warning

Last AMA Answers (#6): Gear, Services and Success

A 7-Word Reminder: “Don’t correct people when it matters little.”

Do You Have A Plan? And Is It The Right One?

What’s Your Next Big Move? Are You Ready?

Build Your Future On Your Own Platform, Not Someone Else’s

I’m Leaving Facebook: Why Groups and FB Live No Longer Spark Joy

Time To Accept That I’ve Failed At Something – Happily

Crowdfunding Without The Internet: Pulitzer And The Statue Of Liberty

The Amazing Power Of Recognition And Badging

Might We Have A Possible Cause For Alzheimer’s?

Why Podcasting And Radio Are Out Of Whack

Value Enthusiasm, But Value Persistence More

Ten Ways To Make Money With Podcasts Besides Ads

One Quick Question To Find Out How Important Something Actually Is

The Workflow For Producing These Videos (So Far) Part 1

Why Not Wade? And…Why Not You?

Audiobook Narrators: How Paymasters Work, And The One I Recommend

Why Gen Z And Millennials’ Love For Audiobooks Is Crucial

American Idol: It’s All About Story, Not Just Singing

Less Beating Yourself Up, More Talking Yourself Up

Resist Oversharing. Instead, Start A Dialogue.

Vocal Care: It’s All About What Works For You

3 Biases You Should Be Aware Of

3 More Biases You Should Also Be Aware Of

Wow. People Really Grokked Biases. Let’s Tackle Fallacies.

Three More Fallacies You Need To Watch For

What’s Your Imprint?

Fallacy Follies, Volume 3

Two Last Big Creativity-Crippling Fallacies

Fail Sooner To Succeed Sooner

A New Lead Source For Performers: Voice Assistants And Smart Speakers

A Great Way To Handle Trolls and Haters

Quantity Does Not Usually Equal Quality

Is Facebook Truly A Monopoly? No More Than Microsoft Was.

Fear Of The Unknown, Or The Day Before My Surgery

A Strange Aspect To Performing That Should Be Cause For Protest, But Isn’t

Want To Grow? Don’t Go It Alone.

How Am I Doing? I’m Gobsmacked. That’s How Am I Doing.

Why I Give My Agents 10% Of Everything

Not Just Explainer Videos, But Video That Explain Things Spectacularly

Mental Floss To The Rescue: Skills You Can Pick Up On YouTube

What’s Better Than Willpower? Grit.

Regarding Apple’s App Store: Be Careful What You Wish For, Pepper

Of COURSE You Wonder What Porter’s Five Forces Are. Who Doesn’t?

Don’t Waste Your Time: Talk Shows Aren’t Meant To Be Fair

Sooner Or Later, I’m Really Going To Tick You Off

Just Because You Can Do Something Doesn’t Mean You Should

Wait, What? Audacity Records In The Background?!

Enjoy Your First Booking. Pay Close Attention To The Next Three.

Pattern Interruption And The Musicality Of Voice Over

Do You Still Have A Landline? Is It POTS? Wait, What’s POTS?

Increase Your VO Accuracy, And You’ll Increase Your VO Profits

Age Range Isn’t Really A Valid Metric For VO

What Is The Overton Window?

How To Stop Jealousy From Killing Your Progress

Even The Bible (And Game Of Thrones) Has One-Star Reviews

How Much Is Enough To Make Per Hour?

With Royalty Share Plus, ACX Makes Hybrid Stipends Official

Wait, Vices Can Be Good For Your Health?

What A Lovely Thing To Discover: Praise From CourVO

I Figured Out What I Provide: The Onboarding Performers Don’t Get

You Don’t Need Permission To Care Or Contribute

It’s Not Just You. It’s The Superstars, Too.

Do You Sometimes Think Irrationally? Maybe. Here’s How To Stop It.

The Struggle Of Announcer-y Versus Non-Announcer-y Voice Over

How My VAs Support Me And My Team

What Exactly Is “The Cloud?”

The Often “Most Difficult” Concept I Teach

Please Unsubscribe From This List. But Don’t Do This One Destructive, Lazy Thing.

Don’t Mistake The Joy Of Knowing For The Joy Of Doing

Why Giving Yourself Some Simple Homework Can Be Life-Changing

One Weird Trick I Do That Makes My Note-Taking Superhuman

The Worst Thing About The Biggest Money-Making Entertainment Category

What Can We Grab From A Schedule This Strict?

Get Better At Executing Today’s Plan By Starting Last Night

How To Create Useful, Organized Audition File Names

Where To Find Related PDFs For Audiobooks on Audible

I’m Halfway Finished. What Have You Valued Most? What Can I Do Better?

Our Digital Attention Span Is Incredibly Brief

“Serves You Right!” She Actually Has No Idea How Right.

Create A Safe Environment For Self-Improvement

Why I Use One Single Channel For Crucial Communication

The Even Cheaper AT-2020 USB Plus Microphone?

Fred Willard (and Billy West) On Quickly Creating Authentic VO Characters

Leo Makes Your Searching Spectacular

On Asking For Things Performers Can’t Do

How To Battle The Urge of “Efficiency”

One More Best-Of-Breed Way To Brilliantly Complain

Changing Audacity’s Sampling Rate To 48,000 Hz

10 Words Of Encouragement When You’re Stuck

Seek/Give Mentorship That’s Appropriate To The Journey

Two Cases Where You Might Not Want To Simply “Follow Your Passion”

Having Fun With Headphone Volume

Please Stop Rushing To Perform

Something To Consider: Everyone’s Internal Menu

One Crazy Key To Creativity: Pure, Unadulterated Boredom

For The Sheer Joy Of It

The Most Commonly Consumed Media Is…!

What’s Dangerous For Us To Care About

Please, Clever Copywriters…Stop Using This Term

Wait, Wait…What? They Actually Listened?!

Why You Should Take The Same Classes Twice

How Your Character’s Menu Informs Your Performance Choices

What Shouldn’t Be Your Metric For VO Success

Someone Awesome Who’s Also Rising To A 365-Day Challenge

Union Or Not, Start With Union Rates

O. M. G. Look What Matt Zurbo Did!

So Where Will That Huge Facebook Fine End Up?

The Root Words of “Typecast”

Avoid That One Obvious “That Worked” Sound We Make

Why Union Members Can Audition For Non-Union Work

200 Auditions. 1 Booking. A Ghost. Really?

I Can’t Do One Thing I’m Asked To Do Every Single Day

One Of Your Secret Weapons: Agility

Do Networking Events Make You Anxious? Let’s Fix That.

Project X Is Just About Ready. I’m A Bit Giddy.

The Difference Between Mansplaining and Advice?

Too Late, Melissa. You Already Are.

Help Me Solve A Lovely Mystery!

Speeding Up The Playback On The Audible App

Why Those Other Casting Sites Usually Aren’t Worth It

Raw YouTube Captioning

hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and I don’t get political in this video
series or with Nami videos
but I am fascinated with the environment
that we’re all living in and how divided
we are and how tribal we are especially
over certain issues more and more issues
these days are very very divisive it
used to be the hot-button issues were
gun control and abortion and drugs and
you know they remain hot-button issues
but there’s so much more the environment
capitalism versus socialism you know
Republican versus Democrat I mean
there’s always been divisions in the
party but it seems like lately the
rhetoric and the the you know it’s
fueled by social media and the internet
just you know everything’s kind of amped
up and I went looking online to try and
figure out if there was some way to
describe this whole framework as to why
things are so you know at odds these
days we’re at odds with each other if we
disagree with something we can’t do it
respectively we we we have to like you
know demonize everybody who doesn’t
agree with us and it’s interesting
because a long time ago a guy by the
name of Joseph Overton created a
something called the Overton Window and
the Overton Window describes the the
range of of acceptability of an idea and
the way it’s presented by a politician
and how that level of acceptability or
unacceptability actually colors how the
public views their position and whether
or not they actually want to reelect
them back into office and it goes from
the very outside of the range of
acceptability of unthinkable to radical
to
acceptable too sensible too popular
too policy so it goes from absolutely
not not over my dead body all the way to
actual policy and then it goes in the
other direction as well to the people
that you disagree with and it’s a really
interesting way of looking at things and
you can see it in the way both sides of
the aisle here in the United States and
overseas present different ideas we see
people who are going to be divisive they
demand to be divisive because it’s their
right to be divisive or it’s their
mission they’re calling to be divisive
and they’re gonna do it by presenting
unacceptable and absolutely radical
things and if you don’t like it too bad
you know I think about a lot of the the
things that have been happening with
some of our freshmen Congress people and
of course some of the things that have
been happening with people on the right
as well
they’ve been faced with the idea that
they may have some very revolutionary
radical ideas but because they’re so far
to the top or bottom of the Overton
Window it’s hard to get people on board
with them so it’s worth knowing that
this is the case and it’s also worth
knowing that when you discuss anything
even in our IC applications to this in
our Union you know we’re about to have
elections in our Union and already the
partisan issues are starting people are
being egregiously dramatic about this
sort of thing and you know part of it is
actors love the drama but the attacks
that happen the the misinformation that
is spread in the effort to get things to
a position that you believe in rather
than what your opponents believe in you
know I happen to be a centrist when it
comes to the Union I’m part of the unite
for strength party we kind of like want
to be able to talk about things and not
be arrogant about our position as actors
and there’s a faction within the Union
that is just vehemently opposed to any
sort of conversation like that they are
they want to go back to the days where
actors had their own Union and nobody
else was a
in you know it happens in all points of
life I mean you know you can have
personal relationships with people that
go sour because what you believe in is
unacceptable or is unthinkable or is
radical and even though there are some
things that you have with other people
that are very acceptable and popular and
sensible and in fact you agree totally
on them so it’s just an interesting way
of looking at things and it’s the kind
of it’s the kind of thing that makes you
understand that if people were able to
reframe issues in a way that made those
across the aisle from them or in
disagreement with them a little less apt
to consider those things unthinkable or
radical but more worth cunt worth
conversing about we might have more calm
and reasonable conversation I don’t know
but it was interesting to read about the
Overton Window I wonder when you look at
some of the things that the people you
don’t agree with have proposed or that
politicians that you don’t agree with
have proposed or that members of our
performers community get involved with
that you don’t agree with how do you
react what is it that you look at and go
no way no way or yeah we can talk about
it we’ll see does the Overton Window
make sense to you let me know in the
comments below if you’re watching this
anywhere but on V o to go go comm I’d
love for you to go over there and make
your comments and if you if your ear
already great leave a comment below let
me know what your thoughts are on this
if you’d like to subscribe to my youtube
channel go ahead and click on my face
there if there’s no face look for a
subscribe button below this video and if
you’d like to see the latest video I’ve
done click on that frame YouTube will
play it for you I’m David H Lawrence the
17th I thank you so much for watching
and I will talk to you tomorrow.

2 Responses to What Is The Overton Window?

  1. ed waldorph June 8, 2019 at 6:41 am #

    As a political junkie I of course find this topic irresistible. The Overton Window is new to me, though as most pundits today describe our politics, they describe an ever widening window without naming it as such.

    I was also intrigued by the example you offered about SAG-AFTRA. Since I am not in the union I have not been privy to the internal debate. Many would think that because I am not that I do not have a dog in the hunt. To me this only points up how widespread and effective the anti-union propaganda has been over the last few decades. It has been going on so long that an entire generation has matured with no practical reference to judge.

    My first thought when you described the debate over re-segregating the union was, “What makes these folks think that making a union smaller could ever make it more effective at bargaining?

  2. Stuart Gauffi June 8, 2019 at 7:04 am #

    “A long time ago”? You’re making me feel old, David. Joe Overton would have been 59 this year, had he not died in a plane crash in 2003.

    Regardless, I think the value of the Overton Window is not in using it to explain the heat of political division, but in using it to recognize the spectrum of viability of public ideas. More importantly, recognizing that spectrum allows one to use carefully designed rhetoric to “move the Window”–that is, to influence public opinion in the direction of the proposed policy. Ironically, the most effective way to do so is through reasoned civil discourse–the public tends to respond positively to violent protest only the very short term, as in thinking “someone should do something”, whereas civil discourse tends to influence opinions–and ultimately, attitudes–in the long term.

Leave a Reply