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It's probably because the use of "shekel" is slang in the US, and it carries a connotation of "very low amount of currency." It's idiomatic rather than a dog w
by aesh2Xa1 2y ago
It's probably because the use of "shekel" is slang in the US, and it carries a connotation of "very low amount of currency."
It's idiomatic rather than a dog whistle in this use. I think you could argue that it's an appropriation and its modern/continued use is divisive.
By what means would the word be recognizable to a broad audience in cultures that do not use the currency (it's not widely used)? "Only anti-Semites will recognize it in such cultures" seems extremely unlikely. In order to be hidden (a dog whistle), it also needs to be more broadly understood as innocuous.
- entropicdrifter 2y agoTo be clear, the argument you're making is that it's blatantly antisemitic rather than a dogwhistle?
- aesh2Xa1 2y agoNo, there are two arguments. First is that I don't find this use to be sufficient evidence to go around claiming that the author is an anti-Semite. It seems more likely to be idiomatic than to be a dog whistle. Second is that I feel the word has divisive cultural baggage in our current culture.
- matrix87 2y agoIdiomatic maybe in alt right circles. I've never seen anyone else use it as a figure of speech like this
- aesh2Xa1 2y agoIdiomatic in just the broad culture. Whatever alt right people do with it, and its special context in their bigotry, is another thing. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/shekel https://www.dictionary.com/browse/shekel > shekels, Slang. money; cash.