<div class=pull-right>

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/04/02/10/41/duck-304234_960_720.png

</div>

In George Orwell's novel *Nineteen Eighty-Four,* duckspeak is a [Newspeak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.

***

<center>[Image credit](https://pixabay.com/en/duck-talking-cartoon-funny-drawing-304234/)</center>