The Overton window - myth or reality? As you may know there is a term - the Overton window. This is a concept that describes a set of topics politicians can discuss without being blamed as radicals. Discussing ideas and topics outside this window would harm your reputation and political capital and therefore might lead to loss of votes in the elections. For many years this term was known only amongst political scholars. But in 2007 and 2010 there were a books "Boomsday" and "The Overton Window" in which describes the idea that someone could consistently manipulate by public opinion and shift this window so that ideas that previously considered as unacceptable or unthinkable become acceptable and even standard. Since then vast majority of people consider this term as a certain technology for manipulation by public opinion. Still most political scholars suppose that the boundaries of this windows are established by a number of complex reasons so it's hard to manipulate it. Despite of many conspiracy theories there is a lot of examples when lobbists are not able to influence public opinion. For example, ban on weapons. There is a lot of sad stories when someone brings a gun to school or other place and shoot people to death. There is a lot of activists who wants to use these stories to influence public opinion but there is a lot of people who struggle for their rights to posess and wear weapon. In conclusion, my opinion that it's very hard to manipulate public opinion though it's still possible.