:Dog-whistle Politics
The rise of dog-whistle politics.
''The dog-whistle politics that worked in the campaign,'' ［・・・］ During his 2004 campaign for re-election, President Bush criticized the Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision upholding slavery. Because that pre-Civil War ruling was later overturned as a violation of human rights, Bush's historical reference was seized upon by some activists as a subtle signal that he might nominate a Supreme Court justice who would favor overturning Roe v. Wade one day.
''The potential double meaning rekindled speculation among Mr. Bush's critics,'' reported David D. Kirkpatrick in The New York Times, ''that he communicates with his conservative Christian base with a dog whistle of code words and symbols, deliberately incomprehensible to secular liberals.''
反対派の世論を喚起することなく、自分がターゲットにするセグメントにのみ的確にメッセージを届ける政治テクニックが、犬笛の比喩になぞらえられている。
人は２０、羊は３０、犬は４５ヘルツまでの音を聴覚でとらえることができるという。高い周波数の、犬だけに聞こえる笛を羊飼いは吹き、彼らに合図を送ることができるのだ。
