• loaExMachina
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    1 year ago

    “Degenerate” is a word that has been used by many people in many contexts both before and after nazis were in power. It’s the privative prefix “de-” + the latin root for creation/birth. Broadly speaking, it just means someone or something altered over time in a way that they no longer function properly. I see how it can be used in a way that aligns with nazi ideology, but that’s not all it can be used for, or how it’s used here.

    • TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Degeneracy is the core ideology behind every genocide. You accuse me of not understanding language shift. I say you don’t understand the overton window.

      • loaExMachina
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        1 year ago

        This is like saying “Everyone who’s ever called for genocide described their targets as bad people, therefore calling someone a bad person is genocidal ideology”. The word “degenerate”:

        • Doesn’t originate in genocidal ideology
        • Doesn’t have an intrinsically genocidal meaning
        • Has continuously been used in non-political contexts.

        If we keep banning every word of the dictionary that a nazi has ever used, fascists will end up the only ones able to talk…

        • TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          This is like saying “Everyone who’s ever called for genocide described their targets as bas people, therefore calling someone a bad person is genocidal ideology”.

          It’s not like that at all. I am bringing awareness to the ideology behind the word. As soon as you start declaring a class of people degenerate, you begin enacting a genocide. Are you delusional enough to think this happens all at once? The authorities labelling normality and degeneracy are in the process of culling outliers who don’t feel comfortable under their authority.

          I didn’t say we should ban it. I posted so that it could be used more accurately. The only degenerates are the fascists. They’ve programmed themselves into blind obedience. They will Not-See anything they’re told.

      • notacuban@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Degeneracy is always a Nazi ideology

        Degeneracy is the core ideology behind every genocide.

        Damn, I didn’t think I’d learn something new today, but as it turns out, the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks and the historical Chinese genocide of the Dzungar and the more recent genocide of the Uyghur people were because they were thought to be degenerates by the ruling National Socialist parties.

        And here I was thinking ‘Nazi’ specifically referred to the Nazi Party members and modern white supremacists who support it, and not every nationalistic faction that has ever committed crimes against humanity.

        You may not realise it, but you water down the word Nazi when you brandish it so casually. When you go around saying everything is Nazi ideology, people won’t listen when something actually is.

        • TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You may not realize it, but when you split hairs you draw imaginary distinctions in what amounts to a hierarchy of worship to power that results in the violent enforcement of a culture from the top.

          EVERY SINGLE HIERARCHY THAT USES VIOLENCE TO MAINTAIN ITSELF IS INHERENTLY FASCISTIC AND GENOCIDAL

          • ZodiacSF1969
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            1 year ago

            That is so dumb.

            Fascism is a specific ideology, it has overlaps with other violent and repressive ideologies but that doesn’t make all authoritarian regimes fascists.

            Why are you trying to be so reductionist? Why can’t we have different words to describe different things? There’s a reason we don’t call every dictatorship fascist, and part of it is that it’s not useful to label everything with the same word.

            • TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The authority to murder in the name of the state is the core of all fascist ideologies. I’m not being reductionist, the various authorities that arise obfuscate their similarities with propaganda.