America's New Language of Climate Denial
For years, President Donald Trump has denied the science behind global warming. Since the start of his second term, however, his administration has leaned less on climate denial and more on what might be called climate dismissal: diminishing, ridiculing or rejecting the idea that climate change is worth any effort to study or try to slow.
They've engaged in what Jennifer Mercieca, a professor of communication and journalism at Texas A&M University, calls 'frame warfare'—dramatically recasting the words used to describe a topic in an attempt to change people's perceptions. Whether the evidence for global warming is called 'unequivocal,' as scientists and governments agree that it is, or 'crap,' as the US defense secretary has called it, can shape a listener's likelihood to take action or obstruct it.
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