The racists and fascists and fundamentalists in this country attempt to appropriate those terms and apply them, in Orwellian fashion, to their opponents. We all know, though, who the real Nazis are--the Breitbarts, Limbaughs, Becks, Angles, Bachmans, Robertsons, Dobsons, etc. The white faces of hate.

So here's my dog whistle:

If you had seen the Nazi party being born, wouldn't you have done *everything* in your power to destroy it--especially knowing what it would lead to?

You would have. . . wouldn't you?

I cannot understand how the tea party can say they are not racist when all one has to do is look at the placards they carry during their various protests. I know that some of their members are just people who are angry with government's impotence in the face of big business and their own lack of control over their deteriorating lifestyles. However, encouraging racism as a solution is cowardly and counterproductive. Drawing a line in the sand and taking sides has never solved any conflict. Dialogue and education is the answer. Good Luck!

The TP, the anger mongers, and their ilk are supported by so much corporate cash I think our only real hope is to get the equal time doctrine back in place. Is anyone working on this angle?

No Mr. Anderson
NO NO NO and DAMNED NO

re-read the first paragraph until you really understand it
judging from the quality of your post [sic] that should take you until Halloween.

It's sickening that so many people can align themselves with such obvious evil in the name of religion and think they are doing 'God's will". Unfortunately, these dangerous fools will always be with us, armed, paranoid and dead wrong.

O'Reilly said:
Tiller the baby killer"..... Somebody's got to stop this guy!
Scott Roeder was listening and shot the doctor to death while he was at church.
Can we liken this to a Sunni/Shia mosque bombing?

Beck said:
Obama is going to take your guns. Its time for someone to take action!
... ambush murderer of three Pittsburgh police officers... "Pop" Poplawski,a discharged Marine, ...was listening....He told his friends what Beck said....they thought he was joking.

Btw, the idea that "discharged servicemen" could become radical right-wing terrorists, advanced by the Bush administration's Homeland Security Dept report...was roundly ridiculed and censored.

The whistlistening is deafening.

What is now aimed at Obama is what they have been doing in the abortion fight for decades, with a toll of dead and severely injured doctors and other clinic workers from attacks, shootings and bombings, they "don't condone" as undeniable evidence that dog whistle tactics can get something done.

I think I remember GWBush also saying he was doing "God's work" by invading Iraq (on a lie). 5,000 kids are dead and many more wounded.When does this horror end? Who will stand up to these awful people that call themselves American. I have not been a big fan of the NAACP but I am really proud of them for taking a stand and being heard. Someone has to stand up to these bullies and get the truth out.
I am a school teacher of 35 years and we in the Public School system did not tolerate such bad behavior, lies, calling names, bullying and just being plain nasty this is intolerable and should be punished.
dj

You need to check your facts. Fox did not run the video until after she was fired and Beck said she should receive an apology.

Wow, Sheeple, that's deep.

Beck wants to dethrone Hannity as King of the Right.

What?! I've studied God's Word(s) in depth for over thirty years, and there is ABSOLUTELY NO "human sacrificing, ritual cannabilism", or ANY acceptance thereof, in the New Testament!! Please stop parroting and continuing the promulgation of lies, "Saje Williams"!!

Slavery - because if we turn the blacks loose, they'll starve
Civil War - because state's rights take precedence over morality
Black codes - because it's unnatural to treat blacks as equals
Jim Crow - because the blacks are getting uppity
Reagan wins the Southern Dixiecrats - because the blacks are all criminals.
Evil signals sent throughout history. Call them code words, dog whistles, or hidden agendas. Hitler had them, Mao and Stalin, and American racists from the days of abolitionist movement.
Racists dehumanize their victims to rationalize the sickness that generates the hate. One of the saddest traits of the human condition. God blesses everyone who stands up to it, then and now.

At every step the

Non-Sheeple's long, idiotic discourse certainly proves by example how badly some are misinformed and just base their opinions solely on belief in bogus issues (e.g. the natural born citizen non-issue, the gun confiscation non-issue, etc). And their misunderstanding of basic concepts, such as fascism, would be funny -- if it weren't so dangerous. Apparently, there are people who are not capable of seeing the irrationality of conservatives who accuse Obama of fascism and socialism in virtually the same breath.
It is just so discouraging to see so many people (yes, even a few liberals) who have no critical thinking skills and ready to believe any crap they see on the internet and the media.

I first read the term "dog whistle" following Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention. Since her speech writer -- who wrote for GW -- quoted an American writer who was a vehement anti-Semite, racist, and Nazi sympathizer during the Second World War. (I would like to be able to remember the writer who introduced me to the term -- on the WWW -- and credit where it's due, but unfortunately, I forget the name of the site.)

It's a useful term; once fully understood, you can see how it's used all around by different sides, to appeal to and draw out certain people, for a writer to prostitute their being to certain crowds of people -- IOW, in its extreme, one could call it a form of jacking people off for money.

Dog whistling is a form of rhetoric, a pattern of media drawing in an audience, often, all while saying, with wide-eyed innocence, "I don't have anything to do with the people that like to hang out around me."

It is almost impossible for a Tea Bagger to realize that there are dedicated people on the political Left who are military veterans, expert marksmen, with blue collar bona fides, who are very ready to face them on their own ground. They can't conceive of this, due to ignorance, a benighted view of history, and a sense of white privilege. It would also surprise them that many of us are in their demographic, and are therefor invisible. I sincerely hope they remain ignorant to these facts. I'm very weary of the Left ceding these issues to a corrupt corporate media and the geniuses who speak for them.

It's exactly because the Democratic Party hasn't gone far enough with certain reforms that they've empowered the further right, a.k.a. teabaggers.

They'cw alienated their bread and butter by giving us a crap health care bill, pouring more money into warfare, and bailing out the banks but not the People.

They're so wishy washy, that in a certain respect, the nation is suffering more from the liberal/conservative Democratic wing than the Republicans.

If they'd opened up Medicare, they'd be in a much stronger position in terms of public support.

But they're more interested in their corporate support, and how they can string everyone else along with their dangling carrots on a stick.

They're all FOS.

Not to mention that the twenty-first century should have something more literally like a guaranteed minimum income. And not have to eat shit for food stamps, a crappy program like Medicaid, "cash assistance for needy families."

Just give people money. Think of all the bloated government we could eliminate with that (not to mention saved trees), plus an expanded and improved Medicare for the country. People actually having enough to live on plus medical care, no questions asked.

What disturbs me about all this (Mr. Pitt has the right of it) is the continuing de facto government acquiescence to these seditious rumblings. Where are the fierce denunciations, the rhetorical light of truth shining into their dark plottings? When is this absurd notion of bipartisanship going to be rejected from on high, as one would reject compromising with rabid dogs? We all know who they are, and 'the hour is getting late' to take these dog whistles and jam them where they belong. To be, or not to be, appears to be the question still. We are being crucified on a cross of pragmatism.

There was a time we sang It's All Over Now, this beast that beat our humanity to submission. once upon a time, until we found our voice again, rising from the decadence of bigotry and, so reclaimed we did, the lost paradise, when Americans young and old, mostly young, dismissed as gabbage that it was, is and shall ever be, the walls between human beings and human beings (erected by the polarizing philosophy from jaundiced head), between women and men (mostly erected by men), between the religions (fanned by the fundamentalists) and so marched to the polling stations to say, NOW IS THE TIME TO RECLAIM THE LOST PARADISE OF HUMAN FAMILY. So what is happening in most of the comments here. Williams Pitt exposed the building of walls again or the holding aloft what was brought down by the power of love when Americans voted for a change that is Barrack Obama. Most commentators are cementing the walls by talking about such non-existent rubbish they call white-suprematicist, a stupid coinage because nobody is superior to the other, nobody is greater than the other because as human beings, right in our basic constitution we are all equal, based on the human condition, we are all equal with what we can do to make this world a better place being what gives us the difference by making us different and so doing, celebrating the human diversity. The answer to all this is just one word. LOVE. Love is what brought Americans to become a model of human family when they threw overboard the particularity of 'race' a rogue coinage, a beast of no gender really, that got itself smuggled in the human vocabulary like tribalism and sexism. What got me 'pissed' off by what is going on is the issue of colour that lurks behind the comments. Look out of the window to behold the beauty of colours amongst the flowers. We love it in flowers but cursed it in ourselves through this crap talk and all that. I agree that any hate-monger lacks spiritual gift which transcends intellectual abilitiies. You may be intellectually clever - which is not the same as being intelligent - but still lacks spiritual gift. Which is dangerous. Which is the problem we are having now. There is something missing in TP which only LOVE can restore. And for this to happen, there is the need for a NATIONAL CONFERENCE to bring all the parties together. Martin Luther King brought America together with and in love. LOVE is that which brought Obama to the White House. The future of United States and the world is in the hand of LOVE. I cannot imagine that TP and Paulin and others are lost to LOVE. Take Love to them instead of hitting hate with hate. In all of history, that has never worked. I LOVE IT WHEN ALL CAN COME TOGETHER AGAIN TO CELEBRATE WHAT AMERICANS REGAINED WHEN THEY VOTED FOR CHANGE. That's the way to go, the child to cuddle, the garden to tend, sisters and brothers.

Does free speech give us the right to yell "Fire" in a crowded auditorium when there is no fire? In a fair political discourse are people just allowed to make things up and repeat them until all the ignoramuses believe them? There is a right and a wrong here and it sickens me that the mass media repeats so many of those lies over and over until some believe they are fact like 13:24 above. The Tea Party pays no attention to logic or facts. They will tell any lie to get their way. It's all just a media circus with no reasoning or wisdom.

To the "brave" person who posted Sat, 07/24/2010 - 13:24 — Anonymous (not verified), insisting that America was founded as a "white, Christian land"...what do you say of the Treaty of Tripoli, where in completely unambiguous language it was stated that "As the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion..."

Every other language is ambiguous, at best, leaving open for further interpretation from both sides of the argument, but there is nothing ambiguous about this language that was read, agreed with, and adopted by every member of Congress in 1797.

On the contrary, the source you site (Title 42, Section 1982) was derived from an 1866 act regarding property rights. Not only extremely ambiguous as to its intentions on the formation of the nation as a whole, but also in the language as it pertains to Christianity being a national religion.

Now...the ball is in your court. Which of us will be too afraid to face the documentation that might "interfere with our own "indoctrinated, brainwashed belief system" as you put it?

In my experience (vast over the past 13 years of attempting to teach and get my fellow Americans to question local authority, nearly all Americans live in fear of government through the indoctrination of the past 60 years.

If you have expereience to the contrary that shows Americans have the courage to question what they have been taught is "authority", my name is Ed Lewis and my e-mail address is - WITH@cvalley.net WITH stands for When Injustice Takes Hold.

Present a point and I will either agree or show just cause why I do not.

Now, speak up with facts or keep your opinions to yourself. This is against "freedom of speech" that is supported by those that do not want opinions or facts presented against certain controlling groups, such as the ADL, ACLU, and so on.

Way to go Epiphannyy! Always nice to have some REAL facts rather than the convenient hearsay "facts" and misinterpreted "facts" that are used to support one's own views. Sometimes, those "facts" are worse than the manufactured "facts" spewed out by FauxNews, et al.

Okay, "Saje Williams", now that you've been more specific I get what you're saying. But you need to understand, if you will ever accept it, that it is true the Jewish government of the Sadducees and Pharisees, and the Roman government, worshiped death, and therefore, in a sense, were making a human sacrifice of Jesus the Christ to their god(s); and that, though it is true Jesus the Christ sacrificed Himself for the sake of all humankind, He did NOT do so as a "human sacrifice" in the heathen, evil sense of the term, or as you mean it.

Also, the ritual cannibalism is COMPLETELY a Catholic thing, and is NOT in the New Testament, or in any part of the entire Bible, at all. Catholicism is the ultimate, and the most evil, counterfeit of Christianity on the entire face of the globe; and it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with True Christianity.

And, yes, I do TRULY, FULLY, COMPLETELY AND NOTHING BUT CORRECTLY understand TRUE Christianity. When people understand it nothing but correctly, which very few do, there is NOTHING WHATSOEVER in it, and/or in God's Word(s), the Bible, that is IN ANY WAY "disturbing" as you mean, and/or as Twain meant, except for the sin(s) and/or evil(s) that humankind committed.

But, concerning you last paragraph, I TOTALLY agree with you. Much of the "Old Covenant" of the Old Testament was done away with by the "New Covenant" dispensation of Jesus the Christ. That dispensation was offered to the Jews in the Old Testament, but they completely rejected it; and, thus, it was passed on to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. All those who accept and are completely transformed by that dispensation, including individual Jews, and as they MUST be completely transformed, will be totally delivered from this evil world. And all those who are not totally transformed by that dispensation, will be completely destroyed.

Like I said in my previous comment, the "right-wing" extremists of which you speak, are nothing but counterfeit, false, fraudulent, so-called "Christians". They really believe their lord and master is supposedly Jesus the Christ; but, in reality, their lord and master is Satan, or Evil, in the guise of Jesus the Christ; and they wouldn't know True Christianity if it bit them on the nose. They are completely deceived; and, unless they come completely out of their false "Christianity", and are completely transformed by nothing but True Christianity, they too will be completely destroyed.

So, I totally agree with you that I, too, would not want the 'religious-right' "influencing my neighborhood watch, much less national politics". But they do, heavily, influence our neighborhoods and politics, unfortunately; and we must non-violently combat their evil beliefs, particularly with nothing but True Christianity. There is absolutely no doubt that they are a scourge to True Christianity, True Government, and to a Truly Peaceful World; but so are the "left-wing" extremists of the "left-wing", just a much as the "left-wing" extremists of the "right-wing". Do you catch my drift?

In other words, almost the entire "left-wing" is just as corrupted and evil as the "right-wing"; and ALL of the "left-wing's" evil beliefs, goals, actions and "successes" must be non-violently combated just as much as those of the "right-wing"; because they are both completely controlled by the neo-liberal corporate-fascists.

Therefore, if you do, please stop falling for the false "left-right paradigm"; and cease, in ANY way(s), supporting EITHER extreme, evil side which is really all part of ONE extreme, evil "side", the neo-lib corporate-fascist "side" which is seeking to destroy us all; and join together with all those who are non-violently fighting the neo-lib corporate-fascist "New World Order (NWO)", its complete eradication of all of our True Liberties and Freedoms (and the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights), its total destruction of the sovereignty and independence of the United States, and its absolute enslavement of the U.S. and the entire world under nothing but evil in the guise of "good", the one-world government and one-world counterfeit religion.

Don't you mean "SHEEPLE", not "NON-SHEEPLE", 'CB'?

Sheeple has my head spinning... "neo-lib, totalitarian socialist, corporate-fascists..."

WTF?

I have said this many times and will continue to say it until you people get it right:

PEOPLE DON'T READ MAIL HEADED "xxx HAS SENT YOU AN ARTICLE FROM TRUTHOUT."

Even people who know and respect Truthout want to know whether the particular article is of interest to them. That is why newspapers use HEADLINES.

How long will it take you people to catch up to the average 19th Century newspaper?

Right-on, Greg!

I love it! WR Pitt is the consummate educator! When you stopped teaching, Will, it was a great loss to the school that didn't have the wit to keep you . . . I never disagree; so, of course, I like to read your articles. In my own defense, I agree with your texts because, well, you're right! You wouldn't crank up the ol' machine if you weren't! Duh! So, after I enjoy your articles, there come pages and pages of comments! Some from the jealous, most from us fans, saying "Pitt just described my whole childhood!" or "Pitt's neighbor sounds just like mine!" You STIMULATE discussion; that's a high compliment, which you and I understand. Keep it up.

Shame on you, Bill O'Rights! Before you go off, you should've checked your compassio-meter. Pitt's wife has MS, you jerk. I've heard you're a Vet. and I applaud you for it, but that doesn't give you the right to be snarky toward an author's family. You wouldn't like it, I'm pretty sure.

@ Rick Drake,

I've had this experience talking to right-wingers about fascism, too. They equate socialism and fascism, some of them referring to the titles of very different groups, "socialists" and "national socialists" or "national socialism" to make their sour point. To me, some seem so well informed on any number of other matters, that it's bizarre. Seems to be a deliberate lie on their part, while others are very ignorant, thanks to our educational system, and its long history of maleducation on this topic. The Tea Party has whooped up a real propaganda campaign on this ignorance. And, as we know, thanks to Bill Moyers and his genuine courage and intelligence, they have been funded by the health insurance companies. The same bandits who want/ed to defeat a bill opening up Medicare to the country or even allow a robust public option to go through.

It's a typical political tactic to accuse someone of the very thing you can be accused of, but quite legitimately. Socialism and "national socialism" have long been ardent foes. Hitler was rounding up, in addition to Jews, gays, Roma, and religious human rights sympathizers/activists - liberals, socialists, and communists.

I recommend "Pan's Labyrinth" for insight into the psychology of fascists. Including their bizarre views on gender and women's rights. Against the psychology of "socialists" or partisans fighting them in rural Spain. Like night and day. (Warning: film contains graphic chilling violence and is not suitable for younger viewers.)

@ 18:31, my point -- going back to the writer's "dog whistle" -- is, this is how a "dog whistle" works, and, people recognize "one of their own." Human communication and understanding works on many levels.

Correction(s) and/or addition(s):

WRONG, Rick, and others! Fascism IS associated with corporatism, as I make VERY clear that I am WELL aware of, calling it "corporate-fascism" most of the time, but it has historically been a truly "left-wing" phenomenon. I am NOT a "right-winger", but the foregoing is the true facts...

New:

All of "isms" of fascism, communism, socialism, national socialism, etc., were created, put in power, and are ultimately controlled by the same people, the international banker globalist, "New World Order (NWO)", one-world government control freaks who want to subjugate everyone.

I would name names, but you're (all?) probably fooled into believing, as they intentionally designed and engineered, that they're "benign philanthropists" and "innocent capitalists", etc., when they are some of the most evil people on the face of the planet who want you to worship evil.

Anonymous-Non-Sheeple,

Socialism is not authoritarian by nature, while national socialism is. Albert Einstein was a socialist, for example. The Pulitzer Prize winning author, Alice Walker; the poet, Pablo Neruda, was a communist. Hitler and Mussolini were fascists. There are vast differences here, Sir. Their socialism was not about corporatism by any leap of the imagination.

I don't know that I would define myself as a socialist, but I am very -- as John Lennon put it - "instinctively socialist." If you don't mind my asking .. do you think john lennon was a fascist?

Please, let's get our terms right. It's not dividing and conquering. It's about not being able to have conversations that make any sense if we can't get our terms right.

As the great philosopher, Alfred Whitehead once said, "The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right name."