Take a look at this trailer. Some of you may have seen it:

This is the trailer for Glenn Beck’s book, The Overton Window. Before you ignore it as a piece of right-wing propaganda, examine the words for a bit. They come from Rudyard Kipling‘s “Gods of the Copybook Headings” in 1919. People disagree as to its meaning, getting hung up over the death of his son, and his depression immediately following World War I.

A couple things stand out in the verses before the last two stanzas:

  • First, is the juxtaposition of the Gods of the Marketplace (who waxed and waned, and were easily blown around by the wind; eventually crashing) vs the Gods of the Copybook Headings (slow and steady, never altering their pace).
  • Second, was their ability to pacify the masses, disarm them, and then sell them into slavery — not at all referring to black slavery — this was a slavery of the mind, of the will, and of the finances of the people they were able to manipulate.

And in the last two stanzas, the meaning is crystal clear:

  • There are four sure things in life since “Social Progress” began. The first is about a dog, the second, a pig. The next is that a fool will keep doing foolish things, even if they have been recently burned. The last is scary. It refers to the Gods of the Copybook Headings returning in a world of hurt.
  • It mentions “after it is accomplished,” which can only refer back to “Social Progress.” So, after progress moves us through Socialism and into Communism (or some other flavor of Totalitarianism), that the Gods of the Copybook Headings will exact their pound of flesh from us, the enslaved masses.
  • One of the most noteworthy phrases is “When all men are paid for existing,” which sounds suspiciously like Welfare, or Food Stamps, Medicaid for the poor, and Social Security. The “safety net” that we’re all wrapped up in once we depend upon the Government for everything.
  • and “no man must pay for his sins,” which sounds like criminals who get acquitted because they had a hard childhood, or politicians who pay no penalty for egregious acts. Nobody is responsible for his actions. It is society’s fault that criminals do bad things, and we should understand them and help rehabilitate them, not punish them.

The title “The Overton Window” refers to a line from Left to Right, with the Window being commonly accepted practices, views, and expectations. Overton described a method for moving that window, effectively including previously excluded ideas, while excluding previously acceptable ideas. The technique relies on propaganda to promote ideas even less acceptable than the current outer fringe ideas, priming the public for their eventual acceptance. This makes the current fringe ideas look less extreme, and thereby more acceptable.

The most easily described example of this “window” is what was and is acceptable in television. When it first broadcast, television shows didn’t show couples kissing, or even boys and girls holding hands. Language was clean. Then they could show kissing, but didn’t show married couples in the same bed. Then they showed full make-out sessions and some skin, and married couples talking while in bed together. Language grew more shocking. Then they showed sex in bed as long as it was under the covers. Now, you can show just about anything, say anything, do anything on television. The Overton “window” moved quite a ways over time.

The book is a thriller that demonstrates how propaganda works. In some ways, it is a fictionalized view of Glenn Beck’s paranoia about an elitist Progressive plan to use the government to crush the liberties of American citizens. It is a call to arms to the rebellious anti-government extremists… you know, those Tea Party folks.

As a thriller, I think it lacks depth and detail… but I’m a Robert Ludlum fan, and this is Beck’s first work of fiction, so I’ll cut him some slack.