Whites set to Lynch Blacks again?

[Dill]

(10-19-2018, 01:32 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Of course it's only for the black people.  That's why he said "back in chains".  And the rest of the speech doesn't matter.  Remember when I asked about dog whistles and you told me they hide them in deniability?  You've taught me a lot about dog whistles, and now I'm able to recognize them.  And all you have to do is say it.  Everything that is brought up to go against it being a dog whistle is what makes it a dog whistle.  It's goddamn genius and I can't believe it took me this long.

when I posted it I really didn't think anyone would think it was a perfectly reasonable thing to say.  But par for the course.

Mike, I do think you are making a reasonable case here. 

The question I would raise concerns the definition and practice of "dog whistle." The Merriam-Webster and other dictionaries define it as a coded message only understood by certain audiences. Central to its definition and operation is that the "code" tells the positive target group what you REALLY mean when you say that a negative, euphemized, target, for example the "urban poor," need to take responsibility for themselves, while leaving plausible deniability ("WHAAAA??? I never said "black"! You are CRAZY!! Race card Race card!) 

So, in practice, in every bona fide instance of dog whistlism I can think of, the intent was to demean the euphemized group, to target it for mean policies or just slurs.  I can't think of an incident previous to Biden in which the euphemized group and the "whistler" are assumed to be on the same side; the whistler wants the VOTES of the euphemized group.  The bad guys in this case are those Romney Republicans, who are not euphemized at all.  

Thus, I would say that allusions to race and slavery, however, subtle, do not automatically qualify as dog whistles if there is no intent to slur the euphemized group or send some coded message to another target.  I would like to know how Biden responded to critics. If the response is "WHAAAA??? I never said "black"! then I'll grant, something is not quite right. But I can't yet figure out what it is yet.