the concept of dog-whistles in politics. Wikipedia gives some examples, but I don’t see why someone would put them into one seemingly arbitrary category; what’s the point of dog-whistle politics?

Question

the concept of dog-whistles in politics. Wikipedia gives some examples, but I don’t see why someone would put them into one seemingly arbitrary category; what’s the point of dog-whistle politics?

In: Culture

Answer 1

The point of dog-whistle politics is to show your allegiance to your base without offending undecided voters.

If a racist candidate wants to assure his supporters that he is racists, he can say, I think all people of color should be in jail or another country.

OR

They can say something like we need to make sure that the ever growing crime wave in our communities is addressed.

Then their supporters know what they mean (get people of color in jail), but an outsider just sees someone who is strong on crime…