This should come as no surprise to many who have observed the 'coded' words employed by Republicans to conceal their racism.
Good read. “The” makes the group seem like it’s a large, uniform mass, rather than a diverse group of individuals. This is the key to “othering”: treating people from another group as less human than one’s own group. The Nazis did it when they talked about die Juden (“the Jews”). Homophobes do it when they talk about “the gays.”
...I doubt it’s an accident that Trump talks about ethnic groups in the same way that we talk about foreign governments and armies. If that “the” treats ethnic groups as some monolithic cabal, that might ring true with the conspiracy-theory mind-set that characterizes some of his core audience — the audience that Trump has been priming to see and make trouble at polling places “in certain areas.”
If you think Donald Trump is the only one who uses coded, racist language like "The Blacks™" or "The Latinos™," then you're in for a white-hooded surprise.
Ann Coulter, Alex Jones, Bill O'Reilly, the entire cast of racist, conservative TV and radio personalities, and everyday YT Americans utilize more than just "the" -- they make use of ALL the available dog whistle rhetoric in their utility belt:
"Inner Cities" -- a term used to paint the entire Black community as unanimously poor and violent.
"Entitlements" -- a term consistently used to describe people of color on social welfare, even though YT folks rely on these programs more than anyone else.
"Illegal Aliens" -- a fucked up way to reference undocumented immigrants of color in America, depicting them as criminals interested in cheating the system. When an undocumented immigrant is YT, wypipo just call them "Grandpa Jesse."
I'm glad we're checking Trump, but we need to check EVERYONE'S bullshit. There's so much racist dog whistling out here I can actually hear the end of Otis Redding's "Sittin' on The Dock of The Bay."
Merita E. Collymore-Carter When you realize the garbage that Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, Coutler and crew have been spewing (even before Obama) you realize that what Trump is saying to his core supporters makes sense to them. But be clear, they all have been coached by white nationalists to use key words and refrain from using the n word and other terms used in hate speech. But it is still hate speech if it garners the same exact results. A racist is still a racist whether they wear a sheet or not.
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