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No, Mark, “When the Looting Starts” IS a Dog Whistle
In meeting with Facebook employees who objected to Mark Zuckerberg’s refusal to fact check, deprecate, or remove Donald Trump’s quote “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” the Facebook founder made mild concessions but defended his decision to allow the remark to stand:
During the gathering, Zuckerberg said the language in Trump’s post had “no history of being read as a dog whistle for vigilante supporters to take justice into their own hands,” according to a transcript obtained by Vox and workers who attended. The comment was a reference to “aggressive, even excessive, policing,” he said, but he took Trump’s post to be a warning or threat of using the military against looting. He thought it was important for people to see and discuss. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/05/facebook-zuckerberg-trump/
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that Trump was promoting “using the military against looting.”
Let’s also dispense with the notion that Trump is referring to arson or physical attacks by protesters. He refers only to looters — i.e. people who break into buildings and take items of value.
A number of editorialists (mostly conservative) have defended using military / police violence to apprehend thieves / prevent theft during a protest.
