There are broadly three ways to react to the shifting of the Overton window – the range of ideas tolerated in public discourse. The first and most common is to move along with it, accepting new parameters and adapting to them. The second is to stay put but look through the window, acknowledging that things have changed while attempting to grapple with that. The third is to resist the movement altogether, to refuse to engage with any previously beyond-the pale-ideas, and reject any arguments to do so.
I tend to fall into the third camp, an Overton window refusenik. This is not fashionable and it’s not easy – by the very nature of the problem, people who agree with you become more desensitised with each passing day. There comes a point when seeing Nigel Farage on TV becomes no longer appalling but almost comforting. It’s old Nigel again with his familiar voice and manner, and bluster and cackle – an offence of white noise.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2VVxKDP
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