I think there are a few "dog whistles’ in a way, but most are really obvious. Those that are very subtle appear to be mostly in the ear of the opposition.
I’ll go with this.
The person upthread who said that one of Palin’s speechwriters was making deep literary allusions is a pretty clear case of doorhinge’s complaint. Even if the speechwriter really is that erudite (a point I personally doubt), it’s pretty clear that neither Palin nor her audience is.
OTOH, Trump retweeting white supremacist groups’ stuff while claiming he has no idea what they stand for and that he certainly doesn’t mean to endorse, gasp, white supremacy, is rather the opposite. That fig leaf is as transparent as his comb-over on a windy day. Everybody on both sides can hear it and anyone claiming not to is either stone deaf, pig ignorant, or lying.
Ok, here’s a challenge. Many posters here are solid supporters of a Presidential candidate. Give us an example of a "dog whistle’ your favorite candidate used in one of his speeches.
So far, all I see is the opposition claiming they exist. Let us see if a supporter will say they heard one- that the rest of us did not.
A bit of a red herring because this time most of the bigotry and ignorance that applies to the ones being targeted for the dog whistles happens to be almost all in one party nowadays.
But that does not mean that they don’t exist, had to dig a lot but I did remember that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. does use classic anti vaccine dog whistles, like “pro-vaccine safety”, “parents’ right to choose”, that sound plausible; but after years of dealing with anti vaccine people, guys like me do know that a lot of the hard core anti vaccine people do know (or want to believe) about what those politicians are really talking about, that they are talking about how to allow for more restrictions or the banning of many recommended vaccines and schedules. They look for whistles like those ones to know who they can support, they are always looking for a “champion” for their misinformed and ignorant voices. (There is a lot of old fashion pandering in this issue too BTW).
So that democrat has a bit to be ashamed of; on the other hand, the many examples regarding anti vaccine whistles are coming in this election exclusively from the Republican candidates.
That’s not how dog whistles work. You hear dog whistles from people you disagree with; from people you agree with, all you hear is their words at face value.
And indeed, even if I agree a lot with the Democrats that does not mean that I see a few that I do disagree strongly with, particularly the (fortunately) few ones that follow woo.
Since most of the commentary at this point is political, let’s move this to Great Debates.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator