Harry ridiculed for 'trying to impress' Americans with his 'muddled' climate change speech: 'He's losing his clarity'
A language expert has criticized Prince Harry’s new speech in which he “thoroughly muddled” in “PR gobbledygook”. This week, Harry reportedly participated in a conversation to introduce a new environmental documentary streaming platform — WaterBear. During the launch, he also delivered a speech calling for affirmative action against climate change. The Duke of Sussex said during the interview, “For me, it’s about putting the do’s behind the say’s, and that is something that WaterBear is going to be doing: Capitalising on a community of doers. There’s a lot of people that say, but this is about action."
But author Judi James told Express.co.uk his words seemed confused. She explained, “Surrounded by a sea of quotes about: ‘... sustainable nature-based economic stimulus packages that embrace a One Health approach...’ and ‘training a young generation of talented storytellers to create more inspiration and excitement around those values…’, Harry appears to be drowning in a sea of corporate-speak himself here, getting thoroughly muddled in the process as he talks about ‘putting the do’s behind the say’s’. The important subject of environment might have gained more from Harry’s signature straightforward, straight-talking approach."
During the ‘In Conversation with Prince Harry Duke of Sussex’, which is available on WaterBear, James said, the 36-year-old appeared to be losing his “clarity”. “As he must know from his time in the forces, when you’re dealing with an emergency it’s all about simplicity and clarity rather than verbal smoke and mirrors. It’s a skill that Greta Thunberg has and it makes her rhetoric inspirational. Harry’s campaign is about getting people to take action and he refers to ‘capitalising on a community of doers’ but PR gobbledegook tends to be more about confusion and delay,” the expert mentioned, before saying: “Harry is keen to stamp his name on the theme, using the term ‘For me…’ to suggest these are his own thoughts rather than a contrived script but his next words: ‘For me, it’s about putting the do’s behind the say’s’ makes it sound as though he’s promoting speech over action rather than the other way round."
James also stated that if Harry had chosen to address the audience in simpler language, his words would have had better impact. “It’s possible to see what he might be getting at but that message is a simple one and some clear, simple wording might have had more impact. Obscure-speak tends to be used when someone lacks confidence and hopes to sound more knowledgeable or to avoid criticism by wrapping their ideas up in mild confusion,” she stated. Besides, James said Harry’s speech appeared to address the serious issue less and an attempt to impress the US people more. She added: “It suggests that Harry is still trying to impress his US audience while playing catch-up in terms of intellect and experience."
Since Megxit in March, 2020, Harry and Meghan have signed a multi-billion dollar deal with the streaming giant Netflix. They will reportedly produce programmes for the Los Gatos-based company.