◼ 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 people. Officially labeled “newspeak,” it was the first language that, when fully adopted, was meant to limit the range of human thought. - Tom Harris/Daily Caller
Concepts such as freedom, skepticism, and debate would be 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 sanctioned by the party, language that conveyed politically correct messaging only. 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, 2014 was the year of climate change duckspeak. Rather than being merely ridiculous or social satire, the 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 consider alternative points of view is “climate change denial,” today’s version of thoughtcrime, punishable by excommunication from responsible citizenry....
...the “97 percent of experts agree” phrase is, using Oceania’s vernacular, “doubleplusgood” duckspeak, designed to suppress debate and boost the party line. After all, who would dare contest experts about such a complicated issue? ...KEEP READING
