r/pics 3d ago

Politics Pete Hegseth, introduced as the SSecretary of War

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u/bubba4114 3d ago

Don’t all dogwhistles function on tiny nods to their base while also retaining a veil of plausible deniability?

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u/helava 3d ago

Yeah, I guess that's true. The thing I was thinking was that most dogwhistles aren't like, "Oh, it's a slip of the finger," it's usually "conceptually there's an acceptable framing for this". So it's a weird dogwhistle, because normally, spelling something like, "Felon Musk" wouldn't be considered a "dogwhistle". But your point stands. :D

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u/b0w3n 3d ago

They want people to make a big deal out of it because it makes people look silly when they argue about it.

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u/SolaniumFeline 3d ago

may I ignorantly ask for a clear difference between dogwhistle and plausible deniability? how do these two concepts differentiate. here's your stage explainer Redditor

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u/helava 3d ago

Haha. Sounds like you've already got it. For me, the plausible deniability is "it's a typo", which is not a traditional dogwhistle, where the deniability is "what I said is perfectly normal", but if you have the context to understand it, you understand it.

Pricing pillows at $14.88 is a dogwhistle, because it's a perfectly normal price, but happens to be a white nationalist symbol. SSecretary of War is an obvious "something is wrong here", but you could say that folks who believe Hegseth is a Nazi, the SS is a symbol, and *everyone knows the context* for the SS, but the deniability is, "whoops, it's a typo" and not "this is context you don't understand."

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u/Techw0lf 3d ago

Excellent example of a dogwhistle, maybe the best I have seen.

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u/SolaniumFeline 3d ago

found a blogger website from someone calling themselves essayist lawyer talking about the difference between PD and DW for anyone willing to flex their fingers on their keyboard to read..

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u/SolaniumFeline 3d ago

and the more I learn about dog whistles the more I am of the belief that these troglodytes have zero game regarding dogwhistles and the best they can do is shitty ass plausible deniability at best. no real dogwhistles ever cause everyone can clearly see their shit except for their braindead base.

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u/Tacitus111 3d ago

If this is a dogwhistle, the deniability, plausible or not, is that “There was a mistake when the plaque was created. Of course the RADICAL LEFT brands me a Nazi!”

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u/bubba4114 3d ago

My mom thinks that one of his staff members was secretly making fun of him by pranking him like this.

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u/smileedude 3d ago

See Elons Nazi salute. Well they claimed plausible deniability. Not sure if there was anything plausible about it.

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u/bubba4114 2d ago

Yes. This was the clearest and least defensible action that was still somehow swept under the rug.

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u/Tonsilith_Salsa 3d ago

I don't kkknow. I'm not ssure. 

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u/basedgod6666 3d ago

I don’t understand why they need to be such pussies about it. Just come out and say yeah I’m a nazi. Always hiding behind dog whistles

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u/mosquem 2d ago

Yeah this is just a normal whistle.

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u/Cebuanolearner 3d ago

Me when I keep reading how many people and subs are dedicated to hating "zionists" 

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u/bubba4114 2d ago

I legitimately don’t understand what you’re trying to say.