[Peace-discuss] Keywords 032120

[Szoke, Ron]

A review of terms sometimes useful in political analysis & polemics

trumpery, posturing, reputation management, Overton window

>  trumpery  (trŭm′pə-rē)  n. pl. trump·er·ies
1. Showy but worthless finery; bric-a-brac.
2. Nonsense; rubbish.
3. Deception; trickery; fraud.
     — Farlex Free Dictionary online 

>  posturing
To assume a certain attitude or behave in a certain way, especially to make an impression or gain an advantage:  "They postured as Southern Loyalists to win the support of ex-Confederates" (James M. Smallwood).
// . . . false behaviour in order to impress or deceive people
		— Farlex Free Dictionary online  
cp. virtue signalling, reputation management 

>  reputation management :  engaging in volunteer, charitable & philanthropic projects with a view toward gaining a reputation for being respectable, virtuous, magnanimous, honorable, public-spirited, etc.  Such a reputation may be convenient & useful later — such as in criminal court.  
		— Urban Dictionary

>  Overton Window
1. A political theory invented by arch-conservative Joseph Overton, VP of the anti-tax Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan. (Overton died in 2003 when his ultra-light airplane crashed.)

2. The name of a poorly-written novel by right-wing talk show host Glen Beck. Published in early 2010, the book is a cautionary tale about leftist radicals taking over the government through incremental change.

In theory, the Overton Window represents the boundaries of "acceptable" public policy and discourse -- what a politician can support without seeming too "extreme." Opposing forces try to broaden this window (or shift it to one side) to make formerly "radical" ideas seem more "mainstream."

Overton's theory has a decidedly pro-business, anti-regulation slant. Something is either "more free" or "less free" in his view. He never mentions "more just" or "more fair" or "more practical." In fact, the entire theory tailor made for paranoid people and right-wing lunatics who think Obama is a totalitarian Marxist dictator bent on world domination.
The Overton Window is yet another idiotic theory masquerading as a "breakthrough" in political understanding. Its leading proponent is Glen Beck of Fox News...'nuf said.  .  .   .   

		— Urban Dictionary online  7/20/2010
——
Statements or ideas outside the Overton Window (frame, over the line, out of bounds, focal area, etc.) are sometimes  quickly dismissed or attacked by “serious people” as: extremist, radical, impossible, silly, crazy, absurd, idiotic, unrealistic, unworkable, unacceptable, impractical, infeasible, marginal, deviant, far out, foolish, outlandish, preposterous, bizarre, nutty, bullshit, beyond the fringe, a waste of time, beyond what normal adults & serious people can take seriously.  But:  may also sometimes be praised as: creative, innovative, “thinking outside the box” of received ideas.  — RSz.   
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