Thursday, August 17, 2017

Dog Whistles--Do You Hear What I Hear?


Decades ago, when I was in my early twenties and working in the library of a conservative accounting firm, my boss used to consistently call me "creative".

"What a creative approach!" she would say when I found a faster, but initially messier, way to update looseleaf binders. (This was before online data storage)

"Lauren is one of our most creative librarians," I would overhear her telling upper management as they gathered in her glass cubicle.
At the time, I thought it was a compliment.
Now I know that it was the kiss of death.

At a firm where everyone observed the dress code of blue suits and white shirts and conformity ruled, the word "CREATIVE" was code for non-conformist, or even troublemaker.   The creativity wasn't bad enough to get me fired, because I got the work done on time and had a high number of billable hours. But it certainly wasn't going to get me promoted.

Now that I work more with words than with numbers, I am far more sensitive to how adjectives are used and not used in the workplace and beyond. Creative is still a charged word--admired by many in Silicon Valley startups, but still suspect for others in larger organizations of all kinds.  




So when my boss at the accounting firm called me creative, she was doing what is known as "dog whistling." Now you may already know what this means, but the term "dog whistling" was unfamiliar to me, until I heard it four times on Tuesday within the span of an hour, on both CNN and Fox News.  (Yes--I watch both.) I now know that the term "dog whistling" has been around for a long time, and there are even dissertations on it. But, it was and is a new term for me.

Taking a guess, I thought that it meant beckoning a group of dogs to your side to either  to protect you or actively attack an aggressor or to simply celebrate as in the song/sports anthem "Who Let the Dogs Out?"   I thought that dog whistles, as when whistled by humans, were LOUD!


But, as I soon learned, an actual dog whistle is silent. Humans can't hear it and respond. Only dogs can pick up the frequency. Applied to politics, a "dog whistle" is a secret message that only some groups will truly understand. It often involves code words or phrases.

Need some examples?

I have only learned recently from friends who have lived in the Southern United States, that when Susan says about Helen, "Well, bless her heart", Susan thinks that Helen is misguided, crazy, naive, inexperienced or maybe even evil.

My friend Rachel, who lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, offers some examples:
"That was the first time she ever made a peach cobbler, bless her heart."
Meaning: The cobbler was lousy

How could she have known that her  gambler boyfriend would run off with all her money, bless her heart.
Meaning: How stupid could she be? Everyone knew that guy was a crook with a problem.

Wouldn't you think, though, that a woman saying "bless her heart," in reference to a friend truly wished to confer empathy in the form of a blessing.

Having lived in New York, Boston, and Silicon Valley, "East coast style" and "West coast style" mean very specific things to my husband and me.  When we say that someone has an "east coast" personality or text this to each other (we could even tweet this three word code if we tweeted)--the words are far from neutral--and we are not merely talking about geography or regional accent.  East coast style might mean someone more formal, someone who dresses up for business meetings, someone more impressed by an Ivy League education or, dare we say it, someone more articulate. Anyone old enough to remember the term, "Get me a Philadelphia lawyer?"

"West coast style" might mean someone who wears Hawaiian shirts even though they do not work at Trader Joe's or someone in a polyamorous relationship or someone who wishes that they were.

When we label our acquaintances with this coastal shorthand are we "dog whistling?"

Absolutely!

So let's look at "dog whistling" in politics.

Republicans may say, for example, that they want to make environmental protection regulations a state issue. This could be a dog whistle meaning that they will refuse to pass these laws on a federal level. And in fact, it could mean that no way in hell are they going to block oil companies from drilling.  That "state issue" could be shorthand for "Drill Baby Drill!"

When President Obama visited San Francisco and referred to guns and religion voters--it was a failed attempt at dog whistling--his disdain for gun rights advocates and evangelical Christians soon became loud and clear.


When Donald Trump spoke of "two sides" being responsible for the Charlottesville tragedy-the KKK thought it was a silent message of support and its leader David Duke applauded Trump.  Trump's spokespeople on the other hand, said, no way--Trump abhors racism and violence. That's where the "dog whistling term" came up on both CNN and Fox-was Trump supporting the actions of the white supremacists? Was there a secret or not so secret message of support to what Trump termed "the fine people" amongst them?The whistle became a bit more audible when Trump came out loud and clear with the message that he thought that the left was just as violent as the right. 

Dog whistling is not a new technique. It's just, at least to me, a new term for a time tested technique. But the messages are coming at us so quickly and furiously that we end up like, well, dogs, spinning in circles.


Instead, we need to slow down, sit, stay, perk up our ears and pay close attention.






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