Duckspeak
In George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, duckspeak is a Newspeak term that means "to speak without thinking," and can refer to parroting the party line by instinct or uttering your thoughtcrime.
As Orwell wrote in the appendix, "...Duckspeak was ambivalent in meaning. Provided that the opinions which were quacked out were orthodox ones, it implied nothing but praise, and when the Times referred to one of the orators of the Party as a doubleplusgood duckspeaker it was paying a warm and valued compliment." In the novel itself, there was as example where a public speaker addressing a crowd was slipped a note in the middle of his speech, resulting in an immediate reversal in which foreign nation was demonized and which was lauded. Facts are irrelevant to the duckspeaker. The party line is all that matters.
Most political platitudes today fall under the label of "duckspeak," and there is little reasoning or evidence to support them. It's a bipartisan issue, too. It's easy for a politician to appeal to popularly-held beliefs rather than make a serious argument. Prejudice is universal, even if the targets of prejudice are not.
Doubleplusgood Bellyfeel Duckspeak
- [insert your country here] is the greatest country on Earth!
- We need government to provide education!
- But it's the law!
- The flag means freedom!
- You don't like taxes? But who would build the roads?
- Support the troops!
- You might not like the politician, but you've got to support the office!
- If you don't vote, you have no right to complain!
- If you don't like the candidates, why don't you run for office yourself?
- If you don't like it here, why don't you leave?
- Make America Great Again!
- Hope! Change!
Your turn!
What duckspeak do you hear people quacking out as though it were gospel truth? Remember, this is distinct from disagreements over the validity of evidence or the analysis applied to it. I am looking for ideas people believe are true simply because they are popularly held (bandwagon fallacy), repeat because they were said by someone "important" (appeal to authority), or intended to shut down conversation on a topic through any number of other fallacies.
'Soldiers fight to preserve our freedom.'
'Cops are the good guys.'
'I need feminism because...'
PATRIARCHY!!!!
In my country, Venezuela, there is a very famous one called: "economic war", used by government officials, and repeated by the few followers they have. The phrase describes a supposed economic war against Venezuela that only exists in the minds of these socialist individuals, and that is the cause of all the country's problems. None of those who repeat this slogan, can explain what is the economic war, but nevertheless, they affirm that it exists and that it is unquestionable.
Oh, yes. And they blame a nebulous "capitalist reactionary conspiracy" for the problems they created through their short-sighted central planning, right?
Yes!
And the true believers still insist this is another example of "socialism still has never really been tried," or, "those foreign countries keep interfering with our workers' paradise?"
Something like that, the incredible thing is that many opponents of socialism, including me, predicted that Venezuela was heading to disaster for almost 10 years and some from further back. However, we never thought that it would go to the extremes in which we find ourselves, since we thought that when the economic model began to fail, the government would come out of power or rectify its error, but they did not release power, nor did they correct. However, socialism always has useful idiots, who repeat phrases like "economic war", to attribute all the harmful effects of our economy.
Donald Trump is a racist!
Nationalist, yes. Racist, not so obviously.
Oh but in the newspeak if you are white and a nationalist then you are a white nationalist and thus a racist by definition. So any white guy who loves America is basically a Nazi.
Narionalism is bad enough.
'The children are the future!'
'How bout them veterans!'
'Change starts now!'
Also, those little stickers -- "I VOTED"
I'll have "hope" for "change" when a president doesn't bow down to Monsanto, big pharma, and the Koch bros.
Right about the time pigs fly and the denizens of hell get frostbite.
Oh gosh! I've been so outside the world lately, I can't even think of a good duckspeak example!
I don't argue about truth and conspiracy with people anymore! It's strange! I'm in the biggest holder of conspiratorial beliefs and yet I just don't have the will to talk about it anymore with others who haven't yet learned how foul the system is...
If I care to think back to my teen years though... There were a few stoic statements that used to be carelessly flung around.
I don't know if these can be counted as duckspeak, I don't know who these days is still mindlessly humming these slogans around, but they were pretty big when I was waking up!
Left that negativity behind me in the past
"Conspiracy theory" has become a bit of a kneejerk duckspeak response to unapproved analyses of events, regardless of their merits.
Huh, that makes sense! Thanks for sharing @jacobtothe
"Unapproved" analyses, hahaha! That is a gem, the language itself speaks volumes!
Great response ^^
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Quack
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Quack
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Quack
Gospel.. you touched on it in the end and didn't address it in the beginning though lol.. [your religion here] is the greatest religion on Earth. Double speak is rampant too, as if the government does it to mock intelligent people now. Patriot act, department of defense, extraordinary rendition, enhanced interrogation and etc. Women's rights, gays rights too.. it's just rights, the attempted separation of one groups rights from another is full of rediculous sjw double speak too..
Main problem of the world today is not duckspeak, it is the duckbrain of the people believing in those statments. Even the Old Romans had proverb “Divide et impera” ... divide then rule but it seems that everyday people still don’t get it!