The First Dog Whistle? “Are You Thinking What We’re Thinking?”

What’s the history behind “dog whistles”? As explained by Bethany Anderson, “dog whistle” is a term that became popular during the 2005 election in the UK, where the Conservative Party slogan was, “Are you thinking what we’re thinking?” This was said to appeal to alienated whites who opposed Labour’s liberal stance on immigration. 

Anderson explains: “The term has its roots in Australia where it was associated with a political strategist, Lynton Crosby. Crosby ran Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s campaigns before consulting in British politics. The phrase reached William Safire’s “On Language” column in The New York Times in 2005. The 2005 campaign in the UK was arguably a failed attempt at dog-whistle politics, because the possible meanings of “Are you thinking what we’re thinking” became a topic of debate.”

In 2005, Robert E. Goodin & Michael Seward’s research, “Dog Whistles and Democratic Mandates,” Political Quarterly (Vol. 76, 2005), noted: “Dog whistle politics’ is a way of sending a message to certain potential supporters in such a way as to make it inaudible to others whom it might alienate or deniable for still others who would find any explicit appeal along those lines offensive.”

If you want to learn more, read Ian Haney Lopez’s recently published book (title pictured here), Dog Whistle Politics (Oxford University Press). He defines “dog whistle politics” as “coded racial appeals that carefully manipulate hostility toward nonwhites.” It's an interesting book!