• Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    10 months ago

    urban dictionary 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.

    • Willy
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      10 months ago

      That’s such a bad example for a good definition

          • blackbelt352@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            In case this is genuine asking, here’s the coded logic dogwhistle:

            H is the 8th letter of the alphabet So 88 = HH, which was used in WW2 communications by the Nazis for Heil Hitler.

            So people who just so happen to randomly put 88 into a random thought online are signaling to the people in the know that they’re also in the know.

            Before you say “but thats stupid and childish, why would anyone go through that much effort to hide their shitty beliefs that way?” that’s exactly the purpose of dogwhistles. It’ high effort enough that normal people wouldn’t expect anyone to put that much childish effort into it, and anyone who points out the dog whistle looks crazy to the normies because of how childish it the dogwhistle is and the dogwhistlers get to feign innocence being attacked by the twitter mob over a number.