Climate Change Today: What Is “Duckspeak”?

Tom Harris explains

(Business Day Live) IN OCEANIA, the dystopian society of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, a new language was created by the government to control the thinking patterns of the populace. Officially labeled “Newspeak”, it was the first language that, when fully adopted, was meant to limit the range of human thought. Concepts such as freedom, scepticism, and debate were virtually unthinkable since no words existed to describe them, aside from the generic term “thoughtcrime”.

Perhaps most insidious was “duckspeak”, a form of speech consisting entirely of words and phrases approved by the party. Someone who had mastered duckspeak could fire off ideologically pure assertions like bullets from a machine gun without thinking at all. Their words merely emanated from the larynx like the quacking of a duck. Being called a duckspeaker was considered a sincere compliment since it indicated that you were well-versed in the official language and views of the state.

More than ever before, we are in an era of climate change duckspeak. Rather than being merely ridiculous or social satire, the apparent underlying purpose of climate duckspeak is ominous: to convince opinion leaders and the public to think about climate change only as the government wants. To support alternative points of view is “climate change denial”, today’s version of thoughtcrime, punishable by excommunication from responsible citizenry and, at times, loss of employment. If AGs United for Clean Power, a coalition of 16 Democratic state Attorneys General (AG), has their way, speaking out on the other side of the climate debate could soon result in civil or criminal charges.

Harris points out words and phrases like “carbon pollution”, “97% consensus”, and “green” as part of the duckspeak. Warmists are using this to justify the use of government force to increase the size and scope of government, especially centralized government. Increasing its power of people, private entities, energy, and the economy. Yet, most Warmists are unable to argue without their talking points. They’ve been told something, and they will simply parrot what they’ve heard. All while refusing to change their own lives to abide by their duckspeak.

Save $10 on purchases of $49.99 & up on our Fruit Bouquets at 1800flowers.com. Promo Code: FRUIT49
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds.

Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed

11 Responses to “Climate Change Today: What Is “Duckspeak”?”

  1. Jeffery says:

    And the Earth is warming rapidly from CO2 we’ve added to the atmosphere. No ‘duckspeak’ there, just the facts.

    And remember, the king of modern duckspeak, Frank Luntz, plays for your team.

  2. david7134 says:

    The earth is not warming secondary to CO2 or any activity of man. The one who advocates this has received everything from you, the taxpayer.

  3. drowningpuppies says:

    And the Earth is warming rapidly from CO2 we’ve added to the atmosphere.

    – that little guy again who exaggerates often quack-quack-quacking his little platitudes

  4. Tom Harris says:

    It is silly to say “the Earth is warming rapidly” when we have seen almost no change in 19 years and only 0.8 deg C in the last century.

  5. Jeffery says:

    Nonsense. Only a denialist would claim the Earth hasn’t warmed in 19 years. No amount of lobbying will change that fact. The last two years have been the warmest recorded.

    And only the scientific illiterate would claim that 0.8 deg C is not significant warming. You should have quit while you were behind.

    Have you been punished by the government for your lies “thoughtcrimes”? I didn’t think so. In fact, I’m sure you’re well rewarded by Heartland.

    Your article is more typical whining from the “victimized” science denier crowd. Criticism is not censorship.

  6. JGlanton says:

    When a person claims “Stonehenge could be toppled by moles if the climate change continues apace, a United Nations report claimed yesterday”, he has mastered duckspeak.

    http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/stonehenge-under-threat-from-moles-2027053

  7. Jeffery says:

    Tom Harris:

    Do you consider describing your critics as “global warming Nazis” as duckspeak?

    Here’s the deal, Tom. You’re a paid advocate for the fossil fuels industry, and before that you advocated for the tobacco industry.

    And that’s OK. But you should expect to be criticized for your lies.

  8. Jl says:

    “Omly a denialist would claim the earth hasn’t warmed in 19 years.” So J, being a denier, why are you denying it? Again, not possible to know if the earth is warming rapidly, because we don’t have comparable data to see if it’s really rapid. Furthermore, no proof the warming is solely due to CO2, and even if it was “rapid”, there’s no proof that rapid is bad. So many loose ends in Climate Astrology’s predictions and assertions.

  9. david7134 says:

    Is it true that most liberals think that the climate god made Stonehenge??? That god seems to be extremely powerful.

  10. […] back to a week ago, I featured an opinion piece by Tom Harris (it was published in multiple papers) which discussed the use of […]

Pirate's Cove