Dog-Whistle Politics and John Howard

Lynton Crosby: WHAT IS DOG-WHISTLE POLITICS Like a real dog whistle which produces sound at a high frequency that can be heard by canines but not by humans, dog-whistle politics refers to the use of code words that go unheard or unremarked by most people but which convey a particular — usually nasty, racially tinged — message to a target audience, according to Huffington Post Canada. WHERE DID IT COME FROM The term "dog-whistle politics" reportedly originated in Australia in the mid-1990s when Prime Minister John Howard — incidentally, one of Harper political mentors — was accused of using words like "un-Australian" and "illegals" in a veiled pitch for support from racist, white Australians. Dog whistle is a term that hasn't been used much in Canadian politics until now but it is bound to be heard more frequently as politicians count down to the October federal election and ratchet up their rhetoric. Howard campaign manager was Lynton Crosby, often described as the "master of dog-whistle politics." Crosby introduced Britain to his brand of politics in 2005, creating election messaging for the Conservative party that focused on hot button issues like immigration and crime under the slogan, "Are you thinking what we're thinking " Among the messages: "It not racist to impose limits on immigration." Crosby went on to become U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron chief political strategist. Indeed, in a book published last year — Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class — law professor Ian Haney Lopez traced the practice back to the 1960s, long before the term was coined in Australia. HOW IS IT USED Likely no country has employed dog-whistle politics longer or with more gusto than the United States. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.