#dogwhisles

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

ayo this is a dog whistle!

[IMAGE ID: a YouTube comment by lyleessex4631 which reads, “paul just about everything that we buy in Australia is made in china, it doesn’t matter which which shop you go into you will still buy something that will have the made in china :Chinese flag emoji: on it” END ID:]

the paul is poll btw some people spell phonically and it gets confusing.

so you see right here? This seems pretty run of the mill right?

but just the entire part of it is screaming with dog whistles, this is how anti-Asian hate gets so insidious.

“Poll everything we buy in Australia is made in china” this by itself is a normal ass sentence, but this is referring to the video I took the screenshot from, and how people are not buying as much Australia Day stuff. (Topic for another day lol)

and so this guy is saying how if the Australian population knew that most of the stuff they bought was made in china they would hate that fact. (In this context it’s because they hate the Chinese people not the government just the people, and would like them to not be in Australia because of the racism and xenophobia. This is literally what they say.)

“It doesn’t matter which shop you go into it will all have the made in china 🇨🇳 on it”

Again pretty normal thing to say, but how they are saying it and the context is that-

“china and the Chinese people are icky and spies and I think they are bad”

again this sorta thing is incredibly suspect because no one else was talking about china, there was no references to china, and this came out of nowhere.

this is full on a dog whistle in anti-Asian hate, and just in general.

this rhetoric in my country (Australia) is very dangerous, since there are TONS AND TONS of displaced and diaspora AAIP people.

and loads of them being from Taiwan or Hong Kong or Vietnam or China or a shit ton of places. (Because iykyk)

and this stuff really fucking needs to be called out, because I’ve seen so much hate in my life so fucking much and it’s only gotten worse since I was little.

It started like this, the devolved into hate campaigns and crimes and conspiracies.

these are dog whistles get to know them please !

#-pop #activism stuff #anticapitalism stuff #anarchism stuff #Anti-Asian hate #Asian hate #anti asian hate #racism #dog whistle #dogwhistles #dog whistles #dogwhisles

[jewishdog]

Is it me or more people are feeling more comfortable to be mask off antisemites and don't bother using dogwhisles as much? Like antisemitism became so normalized

I saw someone rebloging a post with "stop with your Jewish lies"

It used to be "(((zionist))) lies" because antisemitism was at least bad optics. It wasn't bad because it's bad it was bad because it made you look bad. But now we're past even that.

Like that's not the only case, I've seen someone say they don't like jews, jews are thieves

People saying the star of David makes them distrust people because they don't know if the person is a normal Jew or a gross jew

Someone saying the Jews must have been expelled and killed for 3000 years for a reason

Happy (??) holocaust memorial day but this is only for the Jews who are human

I see more and more cases and still hear people say there is no antisemitism in the left

Because a lot if not all of this cases came from people who claim to be leftist under the guise of activism

You claim you are not an antisemite? Prove it! Call those people out!

And if someone calls you out please try to reflect and learn instead of immediately dismissing it

I've also seen a lot of people proudly say they've been called antisemites. That is not the flex you think it is. I mean at least Jews know you are unsafe but would you be proud of being accused of being a bigot towards any other group?

Caring about one group of people doesn't give you a free pass to be a bigot to another group.

Do better!

#jumblr #antisemitism #the jews are tired #goyim don't clown I swear to god #the post kinda got away from me #I have a lot more to say but I won't for now #It was in my drafts on my main for some time #but I feel like it isn't getting any better

[trollhunting-blockboosting]

@\not-your-average-prolifer

contrary to her username she is your average pro-lifer.

self-proclaimed "adult human female" (conservative dogwhisle), appears to be transphobic too- not necessarily a troll but definitely seems a bit like one and the type you'd block.

harassed a trans man, misgendering him the whole time. definitely troll behavior if you ask me, but I'm divided on calling her a troll. (does act like it tho-)

feel like she'd harass any trans person, as she does the whole trans community.

recommend blocking, as usual.

#“ now I'm feeling so fly like a G6 ” :: individual trolls

[kyuala]

Hey, just letting you know, you recently posted a photo of a white supremacist as a reaction image of Kihyun's military photo. It's something called "lace code" which is still used in a lot of different scenes, and white shoelaces in black combat boots are a dogwhisle to white supremacy. I know you might not have known, but given the fact there's still a lot of them on tumblr and the internet in general, I wanted to give the option to avoid any unwanted interaction if possible. - a genuinely concerned follower

hi! thank you so much for letting me know!! i was not aware of any of that and just saved it as a reaction pic to idols in the military from other kpop stans (not sure if on here or on twt) but still, i really wouldn't want to be associated with that. i've deleted the post from my blog and the image from my phone. again, thank you so much ❤️ and sorry for any upset i've caused!

#anon #asks

[robofile]

You guys will reblog memes with soooo much red flags hate symbols and dogwhisles plz use google

[juliganga]

Milei: [literally denying the horrors of the last dictatorship saying it wasn't 30k people disappeared, praising thatcher, trump and bolsonaro, saying that selling organs was "another market", trying economic models that are proven to not work and many other things] Milei voters be like: he got bad press! he never said those things! My brother in christ, check his following count on instagram right now

literal nazi dogwhisle.

are you willing to relive the past? or do you want to keep living in the present?

[just-a-little-unionoid]

not the neonazi of my class telling me I accidentally wear a dogwhisle on a vest I found 🤦

thanks mate I'm going to remove it as soon as I'm home

#i guess this is your daily reminder to fucking check symbols online when you find clothes with some #or buy them #why the hell is it even legal to sell those things anyway #i kinda like the vest tho so idk either I cover it or change the whole sleeve why can't we have nice things #personal

[zeshathecat]

Saw your comment on that rp post and I just want you to know dogwhisle is a hilarious name for a warrior and they should have let you do it!!

Thank you, thank you. My friend made a random name generator for warrior cats and that name came up and I just had to use it somewhere. Even if it is silly. xD

#ask

[rei-does-stuff]

People who don’t know shit abt actual incest shut up abt incest challenge

#AS SOMEONE WHO HAS EXPERIENCE INCEST SHIT IRL CONSENT ISNT A FUCKING DOGWHISLE #RJALKER IS A FUCKING DUMBASS #my post

[idiot-dotcom]

how can someone as disgusting as pewdiepie still have a platform.. people still worship the ground he walks on after all the nasty shit hes done.... how he payed ususpecting people to say ‘death to all jews.. how he said a slur so casually on a livestream.. how on of his followers livestreamed himself killing 49 people right after he said ‘dont forget to sub 2 pewdiepie’.. and yet here i am.. seeing people making ‘omfg such couple goalssss’ videos of him and his wife.. it makes me sick to my stomach that everyone just.. forgot

#chirp chirp #just proves how antisemitism is just such a casual joke to people and no one bats an eye #'it was a long time ago he apologized' #no #how disgusting of a person do u have to be to just make nazi jokes so casually #or when he said the n word? like it just slipped out? #peopl who dont say slurs dont just accidentally say a slur #obviously alt right ppl and nazis vibed with him #bc 'sub to pewdiepie' was a literal fucking dogwhisle at one point #a normal decent human doesnt just become the face of racists for no reason

[thegrandmarsh]

ok Something is wrong bc ive never in my whole life gotten naz! blog suggestions before. what have i done to provoke this. who do i have to block for this to end

#like not subtle either like straight up had allllll the dogwhisles right in the username and everything #hey there this is a personal post

[fartpenis]

pdp fans saying “hes not a f@scist look he donated to adl!!!” is the same as saying x is innocent bc he donates to organizations or whatever. ppl rly forgot that This Is A Thing celebs do to cover their ass regularly

#even if he doesnt have a pr team it still holds up and he still has all the blatant dogwhisles up #shut up sharq #pdp fans have brainrot #isnt the adl against palestine too #im not educated enough on that issue to talk abt it but ive seen ppl mention that #x is referring to xxxt-ntacion btw #antisemitism

[scary-ivy]

sick of people saying the words "female" and "male" on the internet when talking about people...nothing good has ever come out of that. First the gamer redditors called all women "females" to dehumanize them, now terfs use it to dogwhisle to each other...before all of this happened it was considered rude to call people "female" and "male" instead of women and men outside of a scientific context, and it still is rude!

[dogwhistleproject]

The Truth About Dogwhistles Part 1

Before taking this Topics in Pragmatics: Truth course, I had never heard of the term “dogwhistle” before. And knowing now what they are, I have been and will forever be more aware of what people, specifically politicians, say and by the end of this blog post, I hope you will be too. 

Firstly, let me go through what exactly a dogwhistle is. Dogwhistles communicate a specific message to an intended audience that is not received by the majority of the audience. An interesting aspect about dogwhistles is that once something is identified as a dogwhistle, its dogwhistle effects cease to be. 

An example of this is when George W. Bush uttered the specific phrase, “power, wonder-working power,” during the State of the Union Address in 2003 (Politics 101, 2017).

[Start at 21:14]

To those that aren’t a part of the Christian community, this specific phrase probably doesn’t invoke any particular thought or idea. However, to those Christian individuals who are familiar with the popular evangelical hymn, “There is Power in the Blood,” they can identify the phrase, “power, wonder-working power,” and immediately receive a different message than the rest of the audience. They understand that Bush is one of them; he speaks their language, and shares their identity.

Jennifer Saul, in her essay, “Dogwhistles, Political Manipulation, and Philosophy of Language,” identifies four different types of dogwhistles: overt intentional, overt unintentional, covert intentional and covert unintentional (Saul, 2018). The previously mentioned example of a dogwhistle would be an example of an overt intentional dogwhistle. In this case, it is overt because the particular subset of Christians who heard it immediately knew that Bush was sending them a message. It is intentional because Bush purposefully used the phrase, “power, wonder-working power,” to relate to this specific subset of the audience and gain their support.

Another example of a dogwhistle is when George W. Bush outright claimed he would not appoint anyone to the Supreme Court who would condone the Dred Scott decision during the Second Presidential Debate on October 8th, 2004 (PBS News Hour, 2020).

[Start at 1:18:30]

Anyone who knows about Dred Scott, is obviously against the Dred Scott decision, as the 1857 Supreme Court decision made slaves remain property of their owners even in free territories.

You might be thinking to yourself as many people did, “Why did he feel the need to oppose Dred Scott if everyone is already opposed to Dred Scott. He is not saying any new or relevant information.” The answer as it happens lies in the fact that Bush wanted to send a direct private message to a specific group of the audience: those that are anti-abortion. Dred Scott is actually code for Roe v. Wade. Let me explain. Dred Scott has previously been compared to Roe v. Wade various times. The Dred Scott decision denied black men and women the status of being free and declared them “non-persons (Noah, 2004).” In Roe v. Wade, fetuses are also called “non-persons,” because of the fact they have not yet been born. Anti-abortionists claim the legal consequence of Roe v. Wade is the death of fetuses (Noah, 2004). By Bush saying that he is against the Dred Scott decision, he is also saying, only to a particular subset of the audience, anti-abortionists, that he is against the Roe v. Wade decision, and is therefore, against abortion just like them.

What kind of dogwhistle do you think this is? If you thought it was an overt intentional dogwhistle, you would be right! Just like the previous example, Bush is directly targeting a specific group of people and that specific group, anti-abortionists, were aware that Bush was sending a private coded message to them. It is intentional because Bush was intentionally trying to send this message to this particular group. He knew that when he would talk about his opposition to the Dred Scott decision, he was really referring to his opposition to the Roe v. Wade decision.

Next, let’s talk about covert dogwhistles. These are not as clear as overt dogwhistles. These are dogwhistles in which the audience it is targeted for, fails to recognize it, and isn’t aware they are being swayed a particular way. Saul posits that covert dogwhistles are based on this idea of “racial resentment (Saul, 2018).”

In today’s day and age, overt racism is not widely acceptable. However, there still lingers this racist belief system that black people are inferior. Saul writes, “Racist resentment includes four main claims: ‘blacks no longer face much discrimination, (2) their disadvantage mainly reflects their poor work ethic, (3) they are demanding too much too fast, (4) they have gotten more than they deserve (Saul, 2018).’” Covert dogwhistles communicate racist messages in order to sway racially resentful people’s opinions.

We can see an example of a covert dogwhistle when we take a look at the Willie Horton advertisement George H. W. Bush used during his campaign against Michael Dukakis (llehman84, 2008).

The advertisement doesn’t outright mention race at any time, however, using a picture of Horton, who is black, was enough to sway voter’s opinions of Dukakis. Before the ad was aired, Dukakis was ahead in the polls, however, after airing it, Bush began to lead in the polls (Saul, 2018). A specific group of voters, racially resentful ones, were influenced by this ad without being aware of it. The relationship between racial resentment and voting intentions was strongly influenced by the advertisement. The more times the ad was played, the more likely that racially resentful voters would favor Bush (Saul, 2018). This would be an example of a covert intentional dogwhistle because Bush and his team knew exactly what they were doing when they made and aired this ad; they wanted racially resentful voters to favor Bush and sway towards voting for Bush. It is covert because people seeing the ad didn’t outright know what the ad was trying to do.

Can covert dogwhistles become overt dogwhistles? Sure they can! Jesse Jackson called the Willie Horton ad “racist.” Once he said this, people were able to notice what Bush was trying to do and the dogwhistle lost its power. After this, Dukakis started to rise in the polls again. But it was too late in the game and Bush won the election (Saul, 2018).

All of the examples of dogwhistles we’ve seen have been intentional. What does it mean for a dogwhistle to be unintentional? An example of a covert unintentional dogwhistle was when reporters and TV producers would replay the Willie Horton ad over and over again, essentially making the effects of the original ad more widespread and powerful. It is covert (before Jesse Jackson called it racist) because racially resentful individuals were not aware that they were being swayed towards voting for Bush. It is unintentional, however, because there is no evidence to suggest that any of the reporters and TV producers intentionally wanted to sway voters to vote for Bush by playing the ad over and over again, although there may have been some. Saul called this an “amplifier dogwhistle,” because it greatly increases the spread and reach of the original dogwhisle and what they are trying to say.

The only dogwhistle we haven’t discussed yet is overt unintentional dogwhistles. An overt unintentional dogwhistle would be someone using a common dogwhistle that targets a particular subset of individuals, but the person who used it was unaware of it being a dogwhistle. They either said it by mistake or it was a coincidence. An example of an overt unintentional dogwhistle can be seen in the following scenario. “Yahoo,” is a term used by some to mean an ignorant, uneducated person.

A yahoo can also be called a hick or a hillbilly. A frustrated person can reasonably say, “Some yahoo stole my pen at work,” and everyone would reasonably think that “yahoo” referred to an uneducated person right? Well, not necessarily.

Back in 2016, some people (racist ones) on Twitter started using the word, “yahoo,” as a dogwhistle for Mexican people. They also used other words to refer to other minority groups including, “google” for black people, “skittle” for Muslim people, “skype” for Jewish people and “bing” for Asian people. Racist Twitter users started using these coded terms for racial slurs in order to avoid censorship (Chen, 2016). 

An example of an overt unintentional dogwhistle could be someone tweeting, “Some yahoo stole my pen at work,” not being aware that “yahoo” is being used as a term for Mexican people, and just wanting to show frustration that some stupid person stole their pen. It would be overt because a specific subset of individuals, racist ones that are using “yahoo” as a term for Mexican people, will believe that that person wants to say that “some Mexican person stole my pen at work,” and shares similar ideologies and uses the same words as them. It is unintentional, however, because the person has no idea that the term is being used to mean that.

The following tweet could be seen as an example of an overt unintentional dogwhistle if there was a reader of the tweet that thought the person’s usage of “yahoos” was meant to refer to Mexicans.

Here we see one person, @fourfoot, calling people who don’t understand what Brexit means, “yahoos” meaning to say that they are stupid and uneducated. This person does not mean to use “yahoos” to refer to Mexicans, but if someone who does use “yahoos” to refer to Mexicans, sees this tweet, they may think that they share the same ideologies as them. We even see this other person, @banalyst, warning against the use of the term “yahoos” for fear that it may be taken to be the slur for Mexican people.

Now that you are all experts on the different types of dogwhistles and we have taken a look at various examples of different types of dogwhistles, we can examine more ambiguous examples. Let’s talk about Trump, shall we.

[Continued in Part 2]

[juliganga]

milei fans are not beating the nazi allegations ever. A representative of "La libertad Avanza" did a dogwhisle whole ass horn praising the efficiency of the nazis in their take over in Germany claiming Argentinians would be more inefficient than fucking Gestapo.

Make negationists of the horrors of the dictatorships in Argentina and nazis afraid again, because this shit's about to get reaaaaaaaallyyyy ugly in my country really soon.

#antifascist #left wing #leftism #tw antisemitism

[homestuckblogwhichisforhomestuck]

Oh god.

I just realized...

Has “Vriska is a Nazi dogwhisle” happened? I guess this was too early (but people might belive it anyway.) See this.