I heard these six words yesterday on Seth Godin’s podcast to describe the way that ideas become accepted in political discourse. Ideas can shift from being unthinkable, to radical, to acceptable, to sensible, to popular, to policy. But, as this process works on both sides of the Overton Window (the range of politically acceptable ideas), I think it is more helpful to see these words as a mirrored progression.
Unthinkable > Radical > Acceptable > Sensible > Popular > Policy < Popular < Sensible < Acceptable < Radical < Unthinkable
Mullions are the vertical dividing bars or columns in windows. I therefore think of this sequence as the mullions to Overton’s Window.
Dreamers shift the centre ground by imagining the unthinkable. So do extremists. The extremists probably think of themselves as dreamers and the dreamers, extremists.
But who wins depends on which ideas are listened to, become accepted and eventually start to sound sensible. Aristotle had a theory about who wins that debate: the person who is trustworthy, who shares in the audience’s pain and who has a clear enough idea.
As ever, it is not enough to dream: we have to relate too.