• Darorad@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Dogwhistling means saying something that’ll sound innocuous, but really contains an underlying message.

    One example is people complaining about “international bankers” the phrase comes from an anti-semetic book that was used by the Nazis to as propaganda to justify and promote anti-Semitism. By itself, the phrase can seem to be a criticism of global capitalism, but is often really just people complaining about Jews.

    • Delphia@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The most common and innocuous sounding one is “Family values” the moment I hear that I immediately assume anti-gay.

    • Munisk@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      This is a bit of a tricky example, if Orban or Meloni said that I’d be suspicious.

      But if an environmentalist or leftist criticised bankers for investment in fossil fuel or the 2007 economic collapse then it’s obviously not dog whistle to blame it in international bankers.

      • Darorad@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, obviously context matters, if someone uses it once or twice when complaining about capitalism or economic issues, it’s probably not meant as a dog whistle.

        The phrasing of “international bankers” is kinda weird, like the international part isn’t really relevant, and it’s not really something someone would come up with in most scenarios. I think most people would come up with something more closely related to what they’re criticizing.

        I’d assume coming from a leftist it’s probably just them hearing it somewhere and not knowing the origin and common usage. I’d definitely be watching for any other signs of antisemitism though.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        I believe this happened in the UK. I’m not totally familiar with their politicians, but I believe it was Corbin? that was standing in front of a mural that was supposed to be about some “illuminati” intentional banker conspiracy and he got a whole bunch of shit for being antisemitic because the bankers were Jewish, when their religion/ethnicity had absolutely nothing to do with the criticism.