# What are some dog whistles of the American left? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2020, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012 "2020-07-02T02:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/203 "2020-07-30T13:09:31Z")
Also from the article on the OK symbol… Ironically, some white supremacists themselves soon also participated in such trolling tactics, lending an actual credence to those who labeled the trolling gesture as racist in nature. By 2019, at least some white supremacists seem to have abandoned the ironic or satiric intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy, such as when Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant flashed the symbol during a March 2019 courtroom appearance soon after his arrest for allegedly murdering 50 people in a shooting spree at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. … As a result, someone who uses the symbol cannot be assumed to be using the symbol in either a trolling or, especially, white supremacist context unless other contextual evidence exists to support the contention. So, white supremacists DO use the symbol and context is necessary to determine if the guy in the courtroom was using it as a white power symbol or just to say he was okay with prison. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/204 "2020-07-30T13:22:12Z")
Your own cite says the Christchurch shooter was using it as a white power gesture. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/205 "2020-07-30T13:31:52Z")
The Christchurch shooter coulda bought those OK signs on eBay, we just can’t know. CMC ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/206 "2020-07-30T13:50:46Z")
Man, first he trolls the libs by killing 50 people and then he trolls the libs with the OK symbol! This the genius-level trolling. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/207 "2020-07-30T17:07:54Z")
There is already a term for this “dog whistles”. E.g. “Tax cuts” -\>Racism “Safe cities” -\>Racism “Criticizing democrats”-\>Racism ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/208 "2020-07-30T18:29:21Z")
At no time did i say you were imagining anything, just that you were basing your entire argument on one picture you didnt even remember right. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/209 "2020-07-30T19:23:18Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > Ironically, some white supremacists themselves soon also participated in such trolling tactics, lending an actual credence to those who labeled the trolling gesture as racist in nature. By 2019, at least some white supremacists seem to have abandoned the ironic or satiric intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy, such as when Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant flashed the symbol during a March 2019 courtroom appearance soon after his arrest for allegedly murdering 50 people in a shooting spree at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Honestly the whole ‘trolling’ claim seems kind of incoherent to me. Is the argument that non-racist conservatives are _impersonating_ racists for the purpose of riling people up? In public, with their own faces? This isn’t internet trolling where they can hide behind a username or a sock, this is them doing the thing they’re doing. If we take the ‘it’s trolling’ claim seriously, then we have pictures of Trump essentially holding up a sign saying “I, Donnie-boy Trump, am a racist.” The way I figure it, the only type of person who would hold up a sign like that to rile other people up would be a person who wouldn’t mind being thought of as a racist. Which is to say, a racist. So it doesn’t really matter if the sign is being held up to provoke, or to be ‘ironic’, or whatever - it still is the province of racists making a racist signal. (Presuming of course that it’s intended to be the ‘fake’ racist symbol or whatever - which gets back to the context question. Which isn’t really much of a question in a lot of cases - we _know_ Donnie-boy is a racist.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/210 "2020-07-31T06:33:25Z")
What are you babbling about ? There are two issues here: 1. Liberals were trolled by 4Chan, who made up a meme that the Ok sign was a secret racist sign. 2. Some whacko mass killer made the OK sign while in handcuffs. Later he said it was just the Ok sign, but others claim he was doing the super secret racist OK sign just to troll people. Who knows? the dude is so nuts he likely doesnt know himself. So, no “non-racist conservatives” were doing the “super secret racist OK sign” just one insane mass killer and we dont really know what or why he was doing it. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/211 "2020-07-31T07:20:48Z")
It’s a misnomer, dog whistles aren’t dog whistles, hearable by some and not others. They are just euphemisms substituting one phrase deemed not blatantly offensive (or is defensible via bullshit) for one that is. Everybody knows what’s meant. Surely someone said this already. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/212 "2020-07-31T12:58:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Liberals were trolled by 4Chan, who made up a meme that the Ok sign was a secret racist sign You buying that bullshit excuse is the real trolljob. If a bunch of racists do a bunch of racist crap while flashing a sign, that’s not trolling or ironic; that’s racism. The only trolling I see is how they convinced you that it’s totally fine and not racist at all. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/213 "2020-07-31T13:53:44Z")
Not the American left, but in the Soviet Union government campaigns against “cosmopolitan” elements of society were understood to be campaigns against Jewish people. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/214 "2020-07-31T13:58:19Z")
One leftist commentator, whose name I have forgotten, complained about “women who watch HGTV” and voted for Trump; which seemed like it a dog whiste-y complaint about middle class white women. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/215 "2020-07-31T17:51:27Z")
> [@ThisIsTheEnd](#): > > It’s a misnomer, dog whistles aren’t dog whistles, hearable by some and not others. > > They are just euphemisms substituting one phrase deemed not blatantly offensive (or is defensible via bullshit) for one that is. Everybody knows what’s meant. > > Surely someone said this already. I don’t think these qualify as dog whistles without an extra element added in. Specifically, the element of secrecy/plausible deniability. In my opinion, there are two types of dog whistle, or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that there are two ways dog whistles are employed, depending on whether or not they are detected. The first example is when the whistle goes undetected by the common man. For an example, that time Trump tweeted “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” To the common man (me, for example), that just sounds like Trump being a socipath happy about the murder of americans. (IE: It’s tuesday.) Whereas some people interested in racial conflicts through history might be aware that he was quoting a previous racist police chief, and thus (if this was intentional) associating himself with historical racists, and announcing his solidary with racists. (IE: It’s tuesday.) So phase one is when the dog whistle goes completely over the heads of the common populace, essentially allowing him to make racists happy without making the oblivious non-racists mad. Phase two is when the non-racists hear about the alternate meanings, and then get mad. Then the narrative shifts to claiming that the phrase or gesture or symbol was used innocently. As I referenced above, it is actually possible that this is the case. Ofttimes it’s not very plausible, of course, but that doesn’t stop racists from using the claim to try to muddy the water and troll the libs. In my opinion one of these two things have to be happening for something to be considered a dog whistle. Just being a euphemism doesn’t cut it - “the powder room” is a euphemism for the bathroom (which is a euphemism for the water closet, which is a euphemism for the dunny) but it’s not a dog whistle because nobody is fooled by it or pretending it means something else. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/216 "2020-07-31T18:06:14Z")
> **[How the “OK” Symbol Became a Popular Trolling Gesture | ADL](https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/how-ok-symbol-became-popular-trolling-gesture)** > > Has the simple thumb-and-forefinger “OK” hand gesture become a white supremacist hand sign? _This is thanks to a 2017 hoax campaign started by members of the notorious website 4chan that has since taken on a life of its own._ _The 4chan site is an anonymous discussion board with an outsized cultural impact on the internet. It has been responsible for everything from the “I can haz cheeseburger” cat meme to the concept of Rickrolling. There is little that 4channers like as much as a hoax, and in recent months, they have served up a number of fakeries with white supremacist themes to largely credulous online audiences._ _The “OK” hand gesture originated as one of these hoaxes in February 2017 when an anonymous 4channer announced “Operation O-KKK,” telling other members that “we must flood Twitter and other social media websites…claiming that the OK hand sign is a symbol of white supremacy.” The user even provided a helpful graphic showing how the letters WP (for “white power”) could be traced within an “OK” gesture. The originator and others also suggested useful hashtags to help spread the hoax, such as #PowerHandPrivilege and #NotOkay. “Leftists have dug so deep down into their lunacy,” wrote the poster, “We must force [them] to dig more, until the rest of society ain’t going anywhere near that s_\*\*.”\* _Following the cues of the hoax’s originator, 4channers created fake e-mail and Twitter accounts and bombarded civil rights organizations, journalists, and others with messages furthering the “OK” hoax. It is possible that some of the hoaxers were racists or white supremacists themselves, as parts of 4chan are something of a haven for them, and the site itself has been a source of adherents of the alt right segment of the white supremacist movement._ _The original launch of “Operation O-KKK” sputtered after a few days and it seemed that the hoax had run its course without spreading too far, but it picked up again in late April and this time was far more successful in spreading across social media—and beyond._ I suppose then the **JDL** is spreading bullshit? You were trolled and whoosed and you bought it. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/217 "2020-07-31T18:12:28Z")
Last year: > **['OK' hand gesture, 'Bowlcut' added to hate symbols database](https://apnews.com/article/48ae1303568b4b21813adb3bd6d592e5)** > > COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — The "OK" hand gesture, a mass killer's bowl-style haircut and an anthropomorphic moon wearing sunglasses are among 36 new entries in a Jewish civil rights group's online database of hate symbols used by white supremacists and... > the ADL says extremists also are using it [the “OK” hand gesture] as a sincere expression of white supremacy. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/218 "2020-07-31T18:15:45Z")
Racists trolling non-racists by using signals that announce their racism are, in fact, announcing their racism. This isn’t that hard to understand. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/219 "2020-07-31T18:20:46Z")
I was going to write a whole big post but you know what? 100% this is enough. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/220 "2020-07-31T18:24:55Z")
Yeah, the evidence is scant, but note their database also includes: 12 13 14 18 23 28 311 318 38 43 511 737 83 88 9% 100% Boots & Laces Bowlcut hair Celtic Cross H8 Hate The “Not equal” sign Orion PitBull dogs The Thors hammer “War” WP and so forth, which more or less means that every accountant in America has been spewing right wing hate signs on every page of his/her work. They also state that the Ok sign is usually meant as OK, not racist. Now when you see any of those do you think “white supremacist” or just a number? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/221 "2020-07-31T18:25:37Z")
100%?- that’s a white supremacist sign. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012/222 "2020-07-31T18:32:33Z")
You know what, **DrDeth**? I concede. There is no such thing as white supremacy and even if there were white supremacists would be incapable of using words or symbols to indicate anything at all. There. You win. Go home happy. So anyway, digging way into the past - does _anybody_ have any suggestions for secret code words and symbols by leftsts? I still think that the hippy/pro-drug movement have _got_ to have had _something_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-dog-whistles-of-the-american-left/914012.md?page=12)