Huh. I never considered this before, but, the use of a shibboleth actually feels kinda related in a “two sides of the same coin” way to how dog whistles are used, aren’t they?
Like, both are means of individuals using memetics to subtly transmit their IFF disposition toward their chosen faction in an ideological conflict.
Except that the connotation of a dog whistle is that it also paints a target, drawing attention from their faction to designate a given subject, be it an entity or concept or object, as IFF-Hostile.
Oh come to think of it, actually…!
IF used cynically and manipulatively, accusing someone of using a dog whistle could ITSELF hypothetically be a dog whistle, couldn’t it?
…
I feel the urge to clarify before I hit post that this is NOT an insinuation against you, though! I think you have a point, the person you’re calling out is legitimately being shady and evasive.
Especially after that shit they said in their reply about “it’s not my job to educate you” – that’s one of my biggest red flags for social media grifting:
When someone actually BELIEVES IN their rhetorical position, they’re usuallyexcited to share its details with other people, not dismissive and terse, because social media is an arena where the one person we’re responding to is FAR from the only person who can be moved by our voice. Passionately elucidating one’s points may not move one’s interlocutors, but it CAN sway multitudes of observers who can become motivated to speak up.
Feels kinda poetically similar to how our neurons arrive at the consensus of a decision in our brains and how bee colonies decide which flower patches to visit and such!
Huh. I never considered this before, but, the use of a shibboleth actually feels kinda related in a “two sides of the same coin” way to how dog whistles are used, aren’t they?
Like, both are means of individuals using memetics to subtly transmit their IFF disposition toward their chosen faction in an ideological conflict.
Except that the connotation of a dog whistle is that it also paints a target, drawing attention from their faction to designate a given subject, be it an entity or concept or object, as IFF-Hostile.
Oh come to think of it, actually…! IF used cynically and manipulatively, accusing someone of using a dog whistle could ITSELF hypothetically be a dog whistle, couldn’t it?
…
I feel the urge to clarify before I hit post that this is NOT an insinuation against you, though! I think you have a point, the person you’re calling out is legitimately being shady and evasive.
Especially after that shit they said in their reply about “it’s not my job to educate you” – that’s one of my biggest red flags for social media grifting:
When someone actually BELIEVES IN their rhetorical position, they’re usually excited to share its details with other people, not dismissive and terse, because social media is an arena where the one person we’re responding to is FAR from the only person who can be moved by our voice. Passionately elucidating one’s points may not move one’s interlocutors, but it CAN sway multitudes of observers who can become motivated to speak up.
Feels kinda poetically similar to how our neurons arrive at the consensus of a decision in our brains and how bee colonies decide which flower patches to visit and such!