
Beyond dogwhistles – racists have a new rhetorical trick
How are so many politicians today able to get away with overtly racist utterances? By using rhetorical ‘figleaves’
by Jennifer Saul
Jennifer Saul is the Waterloo Chair in Social and Political Philosophy of Language at the University of Waterloo in Canada and Honorary Professor at the University of Sheffield in the UK. She is the author of multiple books, including, most recently, Dogwhistles and Figleaves: How Manipulative Language Spreads Racism and Falsehood (2024). She is originally American, but lived in the UK for 24 years before moving to Canada just prior to the pandemic.