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# How to Recognize Right-wing Dog Whistles and Symbols, From Viking Hats to Flags
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-to-recognize-right-wing-dog-whistles-and-symbols-from-viking-hats-to-flags/
- Published: 2021-01-15T23:53:19.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:22:03.000Z
- Description: The public is finally realizing what antifascists have warned for years: these symbols are rooted in American culture. Amid increased threats of violence, we need to get better at detecting them.
- Author: Billie Anania
- Tags: Art, Documentary, white supremacy, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:11 (2021, 2022, part 1)

How did a mob of angry Trump supporters come so close to harming members of Congress on January 6, 2021? Capitol police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), two government agencies [adept](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2020/06/08/timeline-trump-church-photo-op/?arc404=true&ref=hyperallergic.com) at [suppressing](https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/the-fbis-war-on-the-left-a-short-history-of-cointelpro?ref=hyperallergic.com) dissent, have been conspicuously lenient compared to their [interventions](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/13/us-police-use-of-force-protests-black-lives-matter-far-right?ref=hyperallergic.com) in leftist movements.Feigning ignorance to what the US really represents,politicians and mainstream media outlets still fail to connect QAnon with white supremacy and convey the ubiquity of racist hate groups, whose ideology is prevalent even in the federal government. Their slogans and symbols are out in the open, and we need to get better at detecting them.

From [Proud Boys](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/proud-boys-telegram-far-right-extremists-1114201/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and neo-Nazis to anti-government [militias](https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/antigovernment?ref=hyperallergic.com), a broad fascist coalition has [consolidated](https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/these-are-some-of-the-extremist-groups-responsible-for-the-violence-on-capitol-hill-1.5259142?ref=hyperallergic.com) around Trump’s claims of election fraud and deep-seated white fragility. Fascism has no clear-cut definition, but it does have concrete symptoms: simultaneous claims of victory and victimhood, diligent beliefs in nativism, and what Umberto Eco [called](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/?ref=hyperallergic.com) the “cult of tradition.” This last component covers the far-right ideological spectrum, which is why Confederate and “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden flags appear alongside Ku Klux Klan (KKK) signs and posters of 4chan memes. Five years of neoliberal class [reductionism](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/13/white-trump-voters-are-richer-than-they-appear/?ref=hyperallergic.com) created an illusion about Trump supporters: that they live in “flyover” states, work in increasingly obsolete industries, and struggle financially. While this rhetoric swayed swing voters in 2016, reports from Capitol Hill [showed](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/thoroughly-respectable-rioters/617644/?ref=hyperallergic.com) many insurrectionists were affluent business owners and off-duty police officers associated with these hate groups. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/1600px-dc_capitol_storming_img_7965-1-1200x900-crop-1.jpg)

Multiple Gadsen flags can be seen in the crowd of the pro-Trump mob at the Capitol on January 6\. (photo by TapTheForwardAssist, via [Wikimedia Commons](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/File:DC%5FCapitol%5FStorming%5FIMG%5F7965.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com))

Left-wing organizations have documented far-right dog whistles for years — perhaps most comprehensively by the [Southern Poverty Law Center](https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files?ref=hyperallergic.com) and Anti-Defamation League’s Hate on Display [database](https://www.adl.org/hate-symbols?ref=hyperallergic.com). The Proud Boys are known for [using](https://www.adl.org/blog/proud-boys-bigotry-is-on-full-display?ref=hyperallergic.com) anti-Semitic acronyms like 6MWE (Six Million Wasn’t Enough), a reference to the Holocaust, and one insurrectionist’s Camp Auschwitz shirt led to bizarre Twitter [speculations](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitLiberalsSay/comments/kt379h/cmon%5Fguys%5Flets%5Fgive%5Fthese%5Fnazis%5Fa%5Fchance/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that he was a potential Holocaust survivor. 

Cops and troops are frequently investigated for associations with hate symbols, tattoos of Nazi regalia, and the use of “White Power” hand gestures. The military’s ties to the KKK [date back](https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/dec/24?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the Confederate army, while the Blue Lives Matter movement has renewed discussions around the police’s [origins](https://theconversation.com/the-racist-roots-of-american-policing-from-slave-patrols-to-traffic-stops-112816?ref=hyperallergic.com) as slave patrols. This might explain why the issue is frequently [swept](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/hidden-plain-sight-racism-white-supremacy-and-far-right-militancy-law?ref=hyperallergic.com) under the rug or dismissed as innocent misunderstanding. Meanwhile, [Odinist](https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/1998/new-brand-racist-odinist-religion-march?ref=hyperallergic.com) symbols like [Thor’s Hammer](https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/thors-hammer?ref=hyperallergic.com), the [Life Rune](https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/life-rune?ref=hyperallergic.com), and the [Valknot](https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/valknot?ref=hyperallergic.com) — all of which are [tattooed](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-shaman-maga-capitol-riot-rune-pagan-imagery-tattoo-1111344/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Arizona “QAnon Shaman” Jake Angeli — appear with prominent neo-Confederate, Nazi, and nationalist symbols.

Since the 1960s, American white supremacists have promoted racial purity and overlooked white cultural dominance by [co-opting](https://www.politicalresearch.org/2018/02/01/white-supremacys-old-gods-the-far-right-and-neopaganism?ref=hyperallergic.com) a perceived indigenous identity through an amalgamation of pre-Christian polytheistic religions like heathenry and paganism. Followers of Ásatrú, the neo-pagan religious movement associated with Odinism, lay claim to white indigeneity based on the “Vinland,” a segment of North America explored by Vikings before Christopher Columbus. This paradoxical belief instills a dual sense of victory and victimhood, with hypermasculine Nordics arriving first without receiving any credit. Odinists create faulty comparisons with Indigenous tribes to restrict their religious practices to only those of Northern European descent and, as researcher Shannon Weber writes, to “tap into the idea of Indigenous belonging while conveniently glossing over their status as settlers on stolen land.”

Heathenry isn’t inherently fascistic, but links between neo-paganism and white terror are evident. In 2019, Holden Matthews [burned](https://abcnews.go.com/US/holden-matthews-sentenced-25-years-setting-fire-historically/story?id=73970865&ref=hyperallergic.com) down three Black churches in Louisiana, claiming his goal was to raise his black metal [profile](https://www.cjr.org/first%5Fperson/heavy-metal-capitol-spotting-nazis.php?ref=hyperallergic.com). The attack drew [comparisons](https://www.thedailybeast.com/holden-matthews-arrested-in-string-of-louisiana-church-fires/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to Ásatrú follower [Varg Vikernes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varg%5FVikernes?ref=hyperallergic.com#Arson%5Fof%5Fchurches), who burned Christian churches for allegedly desecrating Viking graves. Fringe groups like Ásatrú Folk Assembly (which uses a [Triskele](https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/triskele?ref=hyperallergic.com) in its insignia) [recently](https://www.startribune.com/pro-white-religious-group-takes-root-in-small-minnesota-town/571802392/?ref=hyperallergic.com) took root in the South and Midwest, and National Guard members were [discharged](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-men-kicked-out-national-guard-over-alleged-white-supremacist-n1107591?ref=hyperallergic.com) for ties to the assembly’s Ravensblood Kindred subsect. That an invented tradition can [influence](https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/1998/new-brand-racist-odinist-religion-march?ref=hyperallergic.com) Third Reich leaders, as well as insurrectionists in fur pelts and horned helmets, speaks to its ideological [entrenchment](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2018/02/15/we-must-secure-border-and-build-wall-make-america-safe-again?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the highest rungs of power.

Conservative media espouses Trumpian rhetoric and feeds a mythology perpetuated by internet trolls, all while Republican politicians signal to their base in coded language. In the House of Representatives, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert has voiced support for QAnon and promoted carrying a gun at work, [claiming](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/qanon-lauren-boebert-nancy-pelosi-capitol-riot-b1785663.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) her constituents were outside the Capitol building during the electoral vote count. Labor journalist Kim Kelly [noticed](https://twitter.com/GrimKim/status/1345812623607132161?ref=hyperallergic.com) eerie subtext in a tweet by another “QAnon Congresswoman,” Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, that bears striking similarity to the “14 Words” [slogan](https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/14-words?ref=hyperallergic.com) ("We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children" vs. Greene’s “I’m here to fight for my children’s future and the next generation’s American Dream”). A commenter noted that the second sentence contained eight words, reflecting the 14/88 variant that repeats the eighth letter of the alphabet (HH, or “Heil Hitler”).

Perceived [threats](https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article248324440.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) to white identity coincide with expansion of GOP state power, but this long-unified organizing structure is fragmenting into fringe power grabs. This explains the uptick in white supremacist violence and growing [divide](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/trump-impeachment-may-define-republican-party-n1254034?ref=hyperallergic.com) among Republican Party members. People are finally realizing what antifascists have [warned](https://twitter.com/IronFrontUSA/status/1128059164423540737?ref=hyperallergic.com) for years: that these symbols are rooted in American culture, an extension of the terror wrought by settler-colonialism. This is why [comparing](https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1348962939320082432?ref=hyperallergic.com) MAGA chuds to [ISIS](https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status/1348625699029053440?ref=hyperallergic.com) jihadists feels wrong, because it obscures the role of white America in West Asia and feeds into the fallacy that white Americans face similar kinds of discrimination.