Tired of "dog whistle"
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  Tired of "dog whistle"
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Author Topic: Tired of "dog whistle"  (Read 1827 times)
Lyin' Steve
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« on: December 16, 2015, 02:29:35 AM »

Every so often a political term becomes trendy and quickly becomes so overused that we're all sick of it.
Dog whistle has reached that level.
I think some smart guy first used it about two months ago.  Then a bunch of other people realized they could sound smart by using it too.  It quickly fell into disrepair as just a generic term to be used when someone says something that the author wants to paint as racist/sexist/islamophobic/whatever.  And now I've seen it four times today and people just use it for whatever without having any idea what it actually means.
#killdogwhistle
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CrabCake
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« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2015, 02:44:47 AM »

k
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publicunofficial
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« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2015, 03:06:07 AM »

"I can't respond to this argument, so I'll just invalidate the words my opponent use and say they don't count"
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DavidB.
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« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2015, 05:17:36 AM »

On this forum I learned that disliking the ANC's track record in governing South Africa is "dog whistling". So I tend to agree with the OP...
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Beezer
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« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2015, 05:44:51 AM »

In its defense, the term has probably been used for decades. So there isn't really much of a point in dropping it just because it's become more fashionable to use it.
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Mr. Reactionary
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« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2015, 05:46:14 AM »

but ... Lee Atwater.
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CrabCake
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« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2015, 06:35:26 AM »

On this forum I learned that disliking the ANC's track record in governing South Africa is "dog whistling". So I tend to agree with the OP...

Who said that? Most lefties here are huge opponents of Mbeki's and Zuma's legacies, we just think:
 
a) the opposition is worse
b) a large section have of the international media have a huge hateboner for the ANC, and melodramatically proclaim problems common to all developing nations (crime, corruption, inequality) as proof that SA is DOOOOMED
c) by and large white South Africans are the whiniest people on earth, given that the ANC essentially saved their bacon from some kind of Malema/Mugabe style figure at best, and an ethnic civil war/genocide at worst
d) the mockery of poor, black South Africans for continuing to vote ANC (as proof they are "uneducated", sometimes with the even more insulting insinuation that they are "too uneducated for democracy) is highly distasteful. And almost certainly a dogwhistle - nobody says, say, Italians' problems with corruption means the peninsula had democracy prematurely.
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Bojack Horseman
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« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2015, 09:40:56 AM »

It's an accurate term for rhetoric with thinly-veiled racial overtones. Much like how the word "thug" has become the new n-word.
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Famous Mortimer
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« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2015, 09:46:45 AM »

"I can't respond to this argument, so I'll just invalidate the words my opponent use and say they don't count"

The "argument" he's responding to isn't really an argument. It's people going "I have no retort to what you actually said, so I'll just say you're secretly racist".
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Stranger in a strange land
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« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2015, 09:56:43 AM »

The phrase has been around since at least the 80s, and probably since well before that. The thing is, it's become very over-used in recent years, and is now used to refer to things that are way too overt/obvious to be dog whistles. For example, Trump's Muslim Ban isn't a dog whistle: it's overt bigotry.
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Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy
Alex
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« Reply #10 on: December 16, 2015, 10:26:50 AM »

In its defense, the term has probably been used for decades. So there isn't really much of a point in dropping it just because it's become more fashionable to use it.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #11 on: December 16, 2015, 01:15:51 PM »

Its a good term; descriptive and to the point. Were that only the case with more political language. Sure it can be abused, but so can all language...
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DemPGH
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« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2015, 04:28:57 PM »

Haha, kind of like SMOKING GUN! Maybe not quite that bad, though?

50% of the time I don't even know what these buzzwords mean, and 99% of the time I don't bother to check if I don't know what one means, as per DOG WHISTLE. I mean, Jesus.

DOG WHISTLE will be out and something else will be in in a few days, weeks, etc.

The phrase has been around since at least the 80s

Hmm, don't remember it/never saw it. "O-rama" (which gave way to "city" in the '90s) and "book" for moving quickly or abruptly I remember.

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Kingpoleon
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« Reply #13 on: December 16, 2015, 05:43:20 PM »

"Some people abuse the welfare system."
Dog whistle!

"Opposing Medicaid expansion could cost lives."
Dog whistle!

Also, use the term "_________[Republican/Democrat/extremist] talking point" to the same extent. It works really well in winning group-think arguments.
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Joe Republic
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« Reply #14 on: December 16, 2015, 05:56:09 PM »

"Throwing X under the bus" is far more annoying and more common, as it can be used in virtually any political context, unlike this term that generally applies only to conservatives.
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DC Al Fine
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« Reply #15 on: December 16, 2015, 06:20:12 PM »

On this forum I learned that disliking the ANC's track record in governing South Africa is "dog whistling". So I tend to agree with the OP...

The most annoying use of the term is when its used to describe blatant strategies. Dog whistles are subtle. "How would you like it if a bloke on early release attacked your daughter?" isn't a dog whistle, its a bullhorn Tongue
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DavidB.
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« Reply #16 on: December 16, 2015, 06:23:58 PM »

Hmm, don't remember it/never saw it. "O-rama" (which gave way to "city" in the '90s) and "book" for moving quickly or abruptly I remember.
This one was even copied in Dutch by "cool kids". Can you imagine how awful that was?
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publicunofficial
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« Reply #17 on: December 16, 2015, 08:56:14 PM »

"Some people abuse the welfare system."
Dog whistle!

"Opposing Medicaid expansion could cost lives."
Dog whistle!

Also, use the term "_________[Republican/Democrat/extremist] talking point" to the same extent. It works really well in winning group-think arguments.

"People abuse the welfare system" isn't a dog whistle. "Welfare queens" is the definition of a dog whistle.
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Bojack Horseman
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« Reply #18 on: December 16, 2015, 09:39:37 PM »

"Some people abuse the welfare system."
Dog whistle!

"Opposing Medicaid expansion could cost lives."
Dog whistle!

Also, use the term "_________[Republican/Democrat/extremist] talking point" to the same extent. It works really well in winning group-think arguments.

"People abuse the welfare system" isn't a dog whistle. "Welfare queens" is the definition of a dog whistle.

And so is putting up a picture of a scary-looking Black man named Willie Horton with the captions "RAPING," "STABBING," and "DUKAKIS ON CRIME."
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