Navigating the treacherous waters of 'dog whistle politics'

The phrase “Dog Whistle” is a new expression to me. Of course, I am speaking in political rather than in literary terms. For those like me, dog whistle refers to words or phrases that are common or “nothing special to pay special attention” to normal people, but trigger words to some folks, just like the sound of a dog whistle is not audible to normal people but the dogs can hear it. When political leaders use dog whistle worlds to provoke certain segments of the population while acting benign in front of the ordinary people, it is called “Dog Whistle Politics[i]”. In his book, Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class, Ian Haney-López explains that dog whistling “simply means speaking in code to a target audience[ii].” The coded messages are used to reinforce racist ideas that the country’s societal and economic problems are because of undeserving, lazy, and violent people of color[iii]. People who are in any job that is related to international negotiations or dealings or in any job should have knowledge about dog whistles to understand the hidden agenda of the speaker. They should also be careful not to use those dog whistle expressions, because that might give an unintended meaning to the real message. In this article, I will explore the historically political uses of dog whistles and mention some common dog whistle expressions that we all should be careful of.

Recently, international politics are facing historically high levels of political polarization. With a rise in this polarization, political candidates are increasingly considering the supporters of the opposition party dispensable and igniting the evil instincts among their supporters. And increasingly, they are communicating their stance to their targeted audience using dog whistle phrases. For instance, when politicians talk about preventing the “thug culture,” “illegal alien,” “inner city,” or “welfare queen,” they are describing black people or other communities of color. When any conservative leader says, “parent’s right to choose,” they are talking about vaccinations for children. Similarly, candidates who wish to let their voters know that they are against gay rights will often say they support “family values”[iv]. When any leader says “War on Terror,” the meaning should go to any evil that threatens our liberty and peace, but this expression largely in dog whistle terms means keeping Americans safe from the evil of Arab and Muslim people[v]. In the nationalist vs globalist debate, the word “globalist” should mean “those favoring economic policies that emphasize international cooperation, free trade and the lowering of barriers.” But the political leaders use this dog whistle to mean the Jewish people and ignite anti-Semitism among Americans[vi].

As you can see from these examples, these expressions give the speakers the deniability that they are instigating racism where in fact they are being racist. The author Haney-Lopez explains three premises for when politicians use dog whistles. First, politicians try to be a racist through “thinly-veiled” racist remarks against any particular group of people to show their support to a particular group. Secondly, the speakers try to make sure they are not directly referencing any one racial or ethnic group, so that they are not called a racist. And lastly, the speaker can refute and “shame any critics who try to call them out on the racist comments”. It is really unfortunate that until recently these dog whistles have “never been louder”[vii]. From the first day of Trump’s campaign, he “broadly characterized Mexican immigrants as rapists”. Every activity of Mr. Trump seems like a dog whistle. For instance, in 2016, he used a campaign ad to point out Jews at the top of government institutes, though nothing explicitly was mentioned[viii]. His not wearing masks in the public is sending a signal to its supporters not to be serious about the covid-19 pandemic, though he officially endorses the recommendations of CDC of wearing masks in public. When asked about the baseless and insane beliefs of the “Q-Anon,” he does not deny them since they love them. He denies every scientific evidence whether it is about climate change or the covid-19 pandemic because that might lose him the support of the far-right republicans or the conservatives. His calling covid-19 the “China Virus,” “Wuhan Virus,” “Kung-fu Virus,” etc. is directed purposefully to the Americans to kindle hatred against the Chinese Americans and any Chinese immigrants. Philosopher Jennifer Saul thinks that “Trump has moved beyond the dog whistle into other forms of barely disguised bigotry.”[ix]

To the benefits of Mr. Trump, there are factions among Americans according to the belief they possess like the white supremacists, neo-Nazis, KKK members, anti-Semites, anti-Islam, and others. Some people associate themselves explicitly to these ideological factions but most of us have our beliefs deep inside our mind where it should be. When we think morally these extreme ideas will never impact our decisions, but the charlatan political leaders use these dog whistles to poke into our evil biases and make us take the decision which we otherwise will not take. These worlds or expressions have been in use for centuries. In a Washington Post article author Adam R. Shapiro traces back the origins of dog whistle words to the 1870s when the scientist Francis Galton invested the actual dog whistle[x]. Francis’s scientific works were dedicated to finding the source of human differences. In his book Hereditary Genius, he argued that “human intelligence and other mental attributes were biologically inherited.” Intentionally or unintentionally, his work led to a dangerous racist conclusion that “high-achieving Black people could never rank higher than the average Anglo-Saxon, and that statistically the race was inferior”. We saw this expression used by an unnamed aide of Mitt Romney who commented that “Romney would be a better President than Obama because only he understood the ‘shared Anglo-Saxon heritage’ that Britain and America have”[xi]. To normal people like me, it may seem innocuous but in reality, what he was trying to mean is extremely racist that Romney is better than Obama because he is white.

We can find usage of dog whistles by previous US presidents, both republican and democratic. Richard Nixon used the word “Law and Order” to mean his strong stance against “the damn N*gro-Puerto Rican groups” and to express his candidacy for the “silent majority,” again a dog whistle, meaning the white American voters. Ronald Reagan used the dog whistle “the Welfare Queen” to promote his anti-government stance. His speeches incriminate the black people who refused to work and trick the government to abuse the government support system to buy themselves extravagant things. Because of his rhetoric, several restrictions were put on the public support system which made it impossible or more difficult for many people to access government support. Another famous dog whistle he used in his speeches is “States’ Rights” to express his stance for “illegitimate federal imposition: the civil rights agenda”[xii]. In 1980s, George H.W. Bush ran campaign ads featuring grainy photos of rapist Willie Horton, to deliberately create a negative and aggressive stance against black people among the white Americans. Bill Clinton used the phrase “Tough on Crime” as code for “tough on Black and Latin people, who are dangerous!”[xiii]. Almost every president after him used the phrase “War on Terror” to justify their wars against Arab and Muslim population.

Some more examples of Dog Whistles are: “Barack Hussein Obama” to mean he is not from the USA; “Cosmopolitan” to mean “urban, progressive elites who pose a threat of leading the nation forward and not back”[xiv]; “Global Special interest” “New York values” “New York elites”, “Eastern Elites” which, like “globalists” mean the Jewish people; “Alt-right” to mean “white supremacists” or “racists” or “neo-Nazis” or “extreme right”; “Old School” to mean aged people “not properly fit for new environment”[xv]; “Cut Taxes” to stop “Food Stamps” and “Forced Busing” to mean the financial distress of the black people[xvi];

It is okay to use dog whistles for benign purposes; however, the use of rhetoric to hurt others has become increasingly unsophisticated and is directly creating more divisions among people[xvii]. This could lead to a dismal future– a world divided in factions that focus more on each other’s deficits than on our assets. We should be careful about these words, especially since dog whistles cannot always save us from incrimination. For instance, a Las Vegas sales executive was awarded a whopping $1.868 million[xviii] after winning an age discrimination case in which direct evidence of discrimination consisted of dog whistles such as “old school,” and the suggestion that he was not a proper fit for the “new environment.” Professor Jennifer Saul advises that we can prevent the effectiveness of dog whistles just by knowing them as dog whistles and their ulterior motives[xix]. One step further, Professor Bill Grueskin of Columbia Journalism School advises to “stop calling racist rhetoric a ‘dog whistle.’” He fears that “things are metastasizing into monstrous versions of what they used to look like. We see the resemblance to past dog whistling, but we’ve also never seen anything this vitriolic before[xx].”

[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_(politics)

[ii] https://everydayfeminism.com/2017/05/politicians-racial-dog-whistles/

[iii] https://www.chicagoreporter.com/dog-whistle-politics-is-gops-longtime-political-weapon-of-choice/

[iv] https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_politics

[v] https://everydayfeminism.com/2017/05/politicians-racial-dog-whistles/

[vi] https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-how-did-the-term-globalist-became-an-anti-semitic-slur-blame-bannon-1.5895925?v=1600535547502

[vii] https://www.cjr.org/criticism/racist-rhetoric-dog-whistle.php

[viii] https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-rolls-out-anti-semitic-closing-ad

[ix] https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2016/11/7/13549154/dog-whistles-campaign-racism

[x] https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/21/racist-roots-dog-whistle/

[xi] https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2012/07/top-five-racist-republican-dog-whistles

[xii] https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2012/07/top-five-racist-republican-dog-whistles