dogwhistle

In politics, to make an innocuous statement which is designed to trigger previously indoctrinated bigotry & hatred without being recognized by outsiders for bigotry or hateful speech.

1. "Barack Obama is a *community* *organizer*, which is like being Mayor without the responsibilities"

In the previous days, Rush Limbaugh had repeatedly railed against "communist union *organizers* who claim to be part of your community," and "*Community organizers* like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton from the urban areas who want what they call 'social justice' - meaning people like you and me get our wealth redistributed" Those who missed this or even read a transcript without emphasis wouldn't pick up on the previously mentioned connotations or the hatred that had been carefully engrained in the words. The dogwhistle approach was wildly successful at stirring the base without detracting from her shiny new image.

2. A commercial was created portraying Barack Obama's achievements in an awed tone and questioning how he did it, with the same font, background imagery, and tone as the Left Behind movies. This casually portrays him as the Antichrist to those deathly afraid of an Antichrist, while not being picked up by anyone else. Dogwhistling to the fundamentalists is a strategy McCain has to use to keep his base awake while not offending the rest of the country.

dogwhistle by Andronomy October 29, 2008

racist dog whistle

What American Democrats call everything they disagree with.

Democrat: Um, excuse me? Did you just say "Merry Christmas?" That is clearly a racist dog whistle for oppressive patriarchal white supremacy.

racist dog whistle by Thundernut Williamson November 10, 2021

X dog whistle

This is some obscure way ex-partners have to bring their former lover back to them.

Tommy was fine until Shelia pulled out her X dog whistle!

X dog whistle by I, Wreckerrr March 14, 2021

dog whistle 

Dog whistle is a type of strategy of communication that sends a message that the general population will take a certain meaning from, but a certain group that is "in the know" will take away the secret, intended message. Often involves code words.

Republicans say they want to make civil rights for gays a state issue, which is really just a dog whistle strategy for saying that they will refuse to grant equal rights on a federal level.

dog whistle by magnummanager July 23, 2011

dog whistle 

a secret whistle used by dogs so they can identify each other as members of the cool whistling dog club

*dog whistle*
ayy it's Fido! Those scones you brought to the last meeting were bomb!

dog whistle by mantis_shrimp August 3, 2020

Dog Whistle 

In politics, a dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition. The concept is named after ultrasonic dog whistles, which are audible to dogs but not humans.

Something to be aware of; however, is that it is also a slippery slope fallacy in which bad actors can claim any one thing can also mean another thing without having to explain why logically. The counter to this is to ask them to explain how they came to that conclusion, to which, they won't be able to actually explain why logically.

Equating legitimate generalized statements or criticisms and concerns to hate is generally how the Dog Whistle Slippery Slope Fallacy is abused by bad actors looking to put words or intent in their victim's mouths.

This also leads to a circular logic problem where the person injecting the slippery slope dog whistling racist intent into the meaning of a generalized statement will claim everyone who disagrees with them are bigots, and they know they are bigots because they don't agree with their beliefs, therefore those beliefs are correct because all who disagree with them are bigots.

Normie: We need to be tougher on crime!
Wokie: That's a racist dog whistle!
Normie: What about it is racist?
Wokie: You're calling for arresting more inserts racial group(s) here that aren't "white".
Normie: How so?
Wokie: Because you're racist! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Dog Whistle by ApplesPotatoGardner May 13, 2023

FEMALE DOG WHISTLE 

Women who subtly hit on, flirt with, or show loving affection toward a man when he is in a relationship and the MAN does not notice or pick up on it. But his girlfriend sure does. Females hear and pick up on what other women are doing well their men are oblivious to it.

Female dog whistle is a woman who uses cute pet names, puts hearts in messages and comments, comments excessively on posts and pics via facebook. Doing things deemed appropriate for only thee girlfriend to do to and for her boyfriend.

FEMALE DOG WHISTLE by YdoGIRLScauseTROUBLE! December 22, 2010