Dogwhistles and Figleaves : How Manipulative Language Spreads Racism and Falsehood

## Abstract It is widely accepted that political discourse in recent years has become more openly racist and more filled with wildly implausible conspiracy theories. Dogwhistles and Figleaves explores certain ways in which such changes—both of which defied previously settled norms of political speech—have been brought about. Jennifer Saul shows that two linguistic devices, dogwhistles and figleaves, have played a crucial role. Some dogwhistles (such as “88,” used by Nazis online to mean “Heil Hitler”) serve to disguise messages that would otherwise be rejected as unacceptable, allowing them to be transmitted surreptitiously. Other dogwhistles (like the 1988 “Willie Horton” ad) work by influencing people in ways that they are not aware of, and which they would likely reject were they aware. Figleaves (such as “just asking questions”) take messages that could easily be recognized as unacceptable, and provide just enough cover that people become more willing to accept them. Importantly, these work against the background of a divided public. They are particularly effective in influencing people who are conflicted yet malleable—those who don’t want to be racist, for example, but are willing to be convinced that something which seems racist really isn’t. Saul shows how these dogwhistles and figleaves have both exploited and widened existing divisions in society, and normalized racist and conspiracist speech. Cover Dogwhistles and Figleaves: How Manipulative Language Spreads Racism and Falsehood Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Content Note Typographical Note Introduction 1. White Racism, White Racial Folk Theory, and White Racial Discourse 2. Racist Dogwhistles 3. Figleaves for Racism 4. The Rise of Blatant Falsehood 5. Figleaves, and Dogwhistles, for Falsehood 6. Obvious Falsehoods without Deniability 7. Dogwhistles, Figleaves, and the Fight against Racism and Blatant Falsehood I. RACISM 1. White Racism, White Folk Racial Theory, and White Racial Discourse 1. Norm of Racial Equality 2. White Folk Theory of Racism 2.1 Basic Tenets of the White Folk Theory of Racism 2.2 The Exonerating Image of the Racist 2.3 What’s Wrong with the White Folk Theory of Racism? 2.4 An Objection 3. Other Prejudices? 4. White Ignorance 5. Division 2. Racist Dogwhistles 1. Usage of Dogwhistle 1.1 Dogwhistle as Code 1.2 Willie Horton Ad as Paradigm 2. A Bifurcated Model 2.1 Overt Code Dogwhistles 2.1.1 Historical Case: “States’ Rights”s 2.1.2 Deliberate White Supremacist Codes 2.1.3 Name as Dogwhistle: Soros 2.1.4 Unwareness: “Bad Hombres” 2.2 Covert Effect Dogwhistles 2.3 Definitions 3. Non-Linguistic Dogwhistles 3.1 Visual Overt Code Dogwhistles 3.2 Visual Covert Effect Dogwhistles 3.3 Location/Date Dogwhistles 3.4 Protean Dogwhistles 4. Why Unintentional Dogwhistles Matter 6. Application: Canadian Conservative Party slogan 7. Knowing whether Something Is a Dogwhistle 8. Deniability, after Concealment Weakens 3. Figleaves for Racism 1. Introducing Racial Figleaves 1.1 Rough Definition 1.2 Examples 1.2.1 Racism Denial 1.2.2 Friendship Assertion 1.2.3 “It’s a Joke” 1.2.4 “People Are Saying” 1.2.5 Criticize Someone Else’s Racism 1.2.6 Snowflake/Cancel Culture/Political Correctness/Wokeism 1.2.7 Racism Accusation 1.2.8 That’s Not a Race! 1.3 The Danger of Figleaves 2. Tough Cases, and Refining the Definition 2.1 Counterexamples 2.1.1 The Language Learner 2.1.2 The Anti-racist Speaker 2.2 Revising the Definition 2.3 Knowing whether Something Is a Figleaf 2.4 Caring whether Something Is a Figleaf 2.5 What Figleaves Need to Do 3. Possible Extensions 3.1 Figleaves for Non-utterances,Possible Revision 3.2 Third-PartyFigleaves 3.3 Collections of Utterances as Figleaves 3.4 Human Figleaves, Possible Revision 3.5 Figleaves in Thought 4. Figleaves and Dogwhistles: Their Relationship 4.1 Are Figleaves a Kind of Dogwhistle? 4.2 How Figleaves and Dogwhistles Interact 4.2.1 Figleaves for Failed Dogwhistles 4.2.2 Figleaves and Dogwhistles to Own the Libs 5. Conclusion II. FALSEHOOD 4. The Rise of Blatant Falsehood 1. Lies and Post-truth 1.1 Lies That Are Not New 1.1.1 Political Lies Are Not New 1.1.2 Racist Lies Are Not New 1.2 But Something Is New 1.2.1 It’s Not This: Misguided Claim of Post-truth 1.2.2 Not This Either: Another Misguided Claim of Post-truth 1.2.3 But This Does Seems Different 1.2.4 Post-truthEra? 2. Is It the Bald-FacedLies and Bullshit? 2.1 Bald-FacedLies and Bullshit 3. Conspiracy Theorizing 3.1 New Conspiracism? 3.2 Against New Conspiracism 3.2.1 Pizzagate 3.2.2 Wayfair 3.2.3 America’s Frontline Doctors 3.3 Conspiracy Theories Are Not on the Rise 4. So, What Is New? 5. Figleaves, Dogwhistles, and Falsehood 1. Background: The Norm of Truthfulness 1.1 Contextual Scope of Application 1.2 Meaning of “Truthfulness” 1.3 Linguistic Scope of Application 1.4 Violating the Norm of Truthfulness 2. Figleaves for Falsehood 2.1 Concealed Falsehoods 2.1.1 Literal Truth Figleaf 2.1.2 Norm Irrelevance Figleaf 2.2 Blatant Falsehoods 2.2.1 “Just Asking Questions” 2.2.2 Reported Speech 2.2.3 “A Lot of People Are Saying” 2.2.4 “It’s a Joke” 2.2.5 Just a Performance 2.2.6 Ignorance Figleaves 2.2.7 Dissociation from Conspiracy/False Claim 2.2.8 Julian Assange’s Multiple Figleaves Regarding Seth Rich 3. Non-figleaf Use of Figleaf Phrases 4. Dogwhistles and Wild Conspiracism 4.1 “WWG1WGA” 4.2 Anti-vax Emojis 4.3 “#Save the children” 4.4 New Age Q Dogwhistles 4.5 “Cofveve” 4.6 QAnon Letter/Number Codes 5. Dogwhistles, Figleaves, and the Rise of Wild Conspiracism 6. Obvious Falsehoods without Deniability 1. Puzzling Examples 1.1 Boris Johnson’s Brexit Column 1.2 Boris Johnson’s Bus-Making Hobby 1.3 Trump Inauguration Photo and Weather Lie 1.4 Hurricane Map 2. True Believers in Echo Chambers? 3. People Not Seeking Truth? 4. Bald-Faced Lies Not So Bad 5. Authoritarianism, Power Lies, and Compliance Lies 5.1 Lies as Authoritarian Power Display 5.2 Power Lies as Attractive 5.3 Compliance Lies 5.4 Bald-Faced Lies Both Unite and Divide 5.5 Bald-Faced Lies Confuse the Media 5.6 Bald-Faced Lies Cause Breakdown in Trust 7. Dogwhistles, Figleaves, and the Fight against Racism and Blatant Falsehood 1. Revealing the Norm Violation 1.1 Covert Effect Racist Dogwhistles 1.2 Overt Code Racist Dogwhistles 1.3 Extremist Responses to Revealing the Dogwhistles 2. Anything Goes? 3. Challenges for Moderation/Banning 4. Challenges for Nudging 5. Inoculation against Dogwhistles and Figleaves 5.1 Dogwhistle Inoculation 5.2 Figleaf Inoculation 5.3 How to Teach about Dogwhistles and Figleaves 6. Conclusion Afterword: A Note for the Curious—Other Dogwhistles, Other Figleaves Notes Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Bibliography Index Pinpoints how "dogwhistles" and "figleaves," two kinds of linguistic trick, distort political discourse and normalize racism It is widely accepted that political discourse in recent years has become more openly racist and more accepting of wildly implausible conspiracy theories. Dogwhistles and Figleaves explores ways in which such changes--both of which defied previously settled norms of political speech--have been brought about. Jennifer Saul shows that two linguistic devices, dogwhistles and figleaves, have played a crucial role. Some dogwhistles (such as "88", used by Nazis online to mean "Heil Hitler") serve to disguise messages that would otherwise be rejected as unacceptable, allowing them to be transmitted surreptitiously. Other dogwhistles (like the 1988 "Willie Horton" ad) work by influencing people in ways that they are not aware of, and which they would likely reject were they aware. Figleaves (such as "just asking questions") take messages that could easily be recognized as unacceptable, and provide just enough cover that people become more willing to accept them. Saul argues that these devices are important for the spread of racist discourse. She also shows how they contribute to the transmission of norm-violating discourse more generally, focusing on the case of wildly implausible conspiracist speech. Together, these devices have both exploited and widened existing divisions in society, and normalized racist and conspiracist speech. This book is the first full-length exploration of dogwhistles and figleaves. It offers an illuminating and disturbing view of the workings of contemporary political discourse.