[tanseydavid]

>> PG is referring to the long-recognized practice of political dog-whistles here.

Serious question: what exactly do you mean by "political dog-whistle"?

No similar term is contained in the Paul Graham piece that was linked and I am genuinely curious what it is you are implying by this.

I have heard this term "political dog-whistle" thrown around over the past few years and for me it has somewhat poor metaphorical quality -- but that's just me.

Can you help me understand this term in the way you seem to understand it?

[wrycoder]

Only the dog can hear the dog whistle.

The act of using coded words, phrases or even emoji to say specific things to a specific group while seeming innocuous to the general public. It can be used for members of a group to acknowledge who each other are, or to rename issues so that they seem different to the general public, or to bring up events to push an agenda. [0]

[0] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dog-whistle

[tanseydavid]

I have a very difficult time finding this to be applicable to the PG piece.

[jimbokun]

It is the idea that certain beliefs are outside the Overton Window [1] of acceptable political discourse, but you want to signal your endorsement of that belief to your supporters without saying it outright, to preserve plausible deniability.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window