The act of using coded words, phrases or even
emoji to say specific things to a specific group while seeming innocuous to the general public. It can be used for members of a group to acknowledge who each other are, or to rename issues so that they seem
different to the general public, or to bring up events to
push an agenda.
B: Why did you roll your eyes at the person talking about being shocked at Swedish rape statistics?
A: Well, they were
dog whistling. Look at the comment closer.
B:
Dog whistling what?
A: A certain group brings up the Swedish rape statistics in order to push the agenda that refugees are evil rapists. Since Sweden reports rapes in
high numbers and also takes in many refugees they
link the two. While this is correct, technically, it's misleading. Sweden REPORTS rapes in higher numbers because they count rape offences differently to other countries. So bringing up this misleading point about swedish crime statistics being shocking is a dog whistle to
trick centrists into falling for their ideas.
B: Wow, that group must be really hateful and
trash.
A: They are.
B:How do you know that they are part of that group though?
A:
Check his handle, see those emojis? That's another act of
dog whistling, members of that group use those emojis in their names to let other members know they are in on it.
B: But they're really inane things like an animal and a hand sign.
A: It wouldn't be very secret if it was just the flag they want to use, now would it?
Another example can be found in the
dog whistling in this very
definition. It's not very subtle but the idea is still there. The members of the group that I'
m referring to know who they are and they got my message. And are probably very upset.
