Greetings STARFLEET,
Today’s post is about something we may all be familiar with. Dog whistles have both a literal and figurative meaning. The literal meaning is a device that produces a sound outside of the human hearing. The figurative one, however, has taken a political aspect.
As with all posts of this nature, STARFLEET is a non-political organization. Discussing specific politics within the organization is against policy.
A dog whistle is typically political and is often viewed as coded language. Commonly, people use dog whistles to refer to something that is no longer socially acceptable to say or that the perceived audience would disapprove of. The more aware people are of standard dog whistles, the less acceptable they become.
The documented history of the dog whistle goes as far back as the 1930s, though it only entered common parlance in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the US. Ironically, politicians have used it for many purposes in the intervening time.
Unfortunately, common dog whistles also appear in everyday speech. For example, people discuss how they would never move to the inner city or how the crime rate means we need more law and order regularly. Even innocuous phrases like international bankers have dog whistle meanings.
Typical political dog whistles include:
- Law and order
- Family values
- Midwestern voters
Unfortunately, dog whistles do have influence, and they can also be polarizing. Since the phrases are often repeated, it’s difficult to avoid them, and many build movements around them. However, calling something out as a dog whistle is also often challenging.
It isn’t easy to prove someone meant a dog whistle as a dog whistle. That’s a crux of the matter. If we point out dog whistles, folks tend to become defensive as they would with microaggressions.
Recognizing dog whistles and working to eliminate them from our own language is the first step. From there, it’s a social problem with a social solution. Recognizing dog whistles, however, helps us create an inclusive environment.
Be Kind, STARFLEET.