In 1937, two years before they declared war on the western world, the Nazis declared war on modern art — which they classed as “Entartete Kunst,” — or, in English, “degenerate art.”
Not content with merely sniping at modernism in the press, the Nazis launched a “Degnerate Art” exhibition — or, rather, a sort of anti-art exhibition — featuring modernist works by an assortment of famous and not-so-famous artists, including Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, and Pablo Picasso. The idea was to show how self-evidently terrible this art was, and how its very existence was an affront to the good German people.
Now a self described “Classical” art teacher named Megha Verma has launched her own little war on “degenerate art.”
Given that she teaches art history, and is confident enough to describe herself as an arbiter of “Beauty, Truth and Virtue,” it seems exceedingly unlikely that Verma wasn’t aware of the “Degenerate Art” exhibit and the fascist connotations that now stick to the word “degenerate.” And if she didn’t know that “degenerate” has become something of a fascist dogwhistle, well, plenty of people in her mentions have spelled it out for her, and she has not backed down from her use of the word, even though she seems to consider herself a monarchist (or perhaps a mouse supremacist) rather than a fascist.
In recent years, contemporary Nazis (and the Nazi-adjacent) have glommed onto this word as one of their favorite insults, whether they mean to align themselves with the Nazis old or new, or if they use it because everyone else (in their right=wing bubble) uses it.
They’re especially fond of applying the word to LGBTQ+ people; this is certainly something they share with the OG Nazis.
They especially like using the word for trans people (and the occasional hockey league).
Other favorites include women having sex:
Women NOT having sex:
Black people (click to see the tweet in context):
People who get abortions:
And then, of course, there’s the Walt Disney Corporation, which one commenter wants to destroy with nuclear weapons.
These are the people you’re getting in bed with if you use the word “degenerate.” Unless you’re reclaiming the word for yourself just to stick it to the Nazis and the Nazi-adjacent. Then it’s kind of cool.
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Every statement is a confession. It’s all projection.
*Inserts tongue into cheek*
David, I’d like to reclaim the word “degenerate”, but since I believe my slow trend toward the Left in general over the years is not compatible with most of the definitions of the word, I don’t think I can.
For example:
See? How can me becoming a better person match that in any way?
Ironically and appropriately for this space, Duchamp may have stolen the credit for Fountain from a woman.
https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/in_focus/duchamp-probably-didnt-make-the-fountain-urinala-look-at-the-dada-woman-who-likely-authored-the-56084
Although in the interests of full disclosure, that theory is not universally accepted.
https://atlaspress.co.uk/marcel-duchamp-was-not-a-thief/
Ironically, the Degenerate Art Exhibition of 1937 drew a bit over 2 million viewers, while the corresponding Great German Art Exhibition managed 600,000.
@ nequam
Still holds the record for best attended single exhibition.
Talking of degeneration, in my mis-spent youth I used to tour manage this band.
It was weird, I genuinely thought they were amazing, especially live. And the press and record companies loved them. They were being groomed to be the next Queen. And then the market shifted to grunge and it all fizzled.
In chemistry and physics, degenerate means having equal energy. For example, two electrons in an atom can be degenerate. I always need to carefully explain the scientific use of the term vs the vernacular.
Full (autism) spectrum warrior doesn’t seem to realize that people can contract AIDS from straight, heterosexual sex.
I knew about the Nazi exhibit of what they called ” degenerate art.” I didn’t know it was so popular. I guess degeneracy sells.
In my youth, someone once referred to me as a “badass degenerate.”. I was really proud of myself.
Now I want to know how Baymax, that lovable Disney robot, could possibly promote the idea that men have periods. Of course, Christopher Rufo isn’t the most trustworthy source…
Degenerate? Let’s take a look at the noun, shall we?
Meet Webster’s:
Hatred is not a normal moral standard.
@miscellaneous chuds:
The actual cause of their destruction was a meteorite. The Bible’s version sez it was because they were not showing travelers hospitality in accordance with Levitican law, or something like that. (Said hospitality apparently was to include pimping out your daughters, if you had any, to traveling bigwigs, so I can’t really blame them.) I don’t know where the idea came from that it was because they were having lots of gay sex there. If it had been the meteor would have blown up Sparta instead.
You apparently care a great deal. You can’t stop thinking about it. Whenever visibly gay people cross your path your very first thought is apparently about dicks. Now why might that be, I wonder?
Oh, no, you didn’t. No, you do not get to use autistic people as a shield, you Nazi scum!
Is there any evidence that any teachers are doing anything of the sort? Other than in the Duggars’ homeschooling regimen, that is?
I don’t think “demoralization” (note spelling) means what you seem to be thinking, here, if I may be generous in my application of the term “thinking”.
And it’s the general populace, nitwit, not “populous”. *smh*
That’s what your side does, with Fox and Infowars and the attempted putsch on January 6.
Erm, what?
Who are degenerate uncivilized savages? I’ll refer you again to the January 6 footage, which ought to make the answer clear. Oh, and if you really want “one nation under God”, I hear Saudi Arabia is nice this time of year. Iran, too.
Hello, it’s 2015 calling … they want their “Bar 20 COWBOY” back.
Has this phrase ever appeared in anything other than right-wing scaremongering attempting to fan the flames of some moral panic or another?
Cool. Where do I sign up? It will make a nice change from all this war we’ve been having …
The true degenerates were the ‘friends’ they made along the way.
Hilarious that Nazis want to criticise art when half of them can’t even spray paint a swastika correctly. See r/hailhortler for examples.
Almost entirely off-topic, but I’ve seen an argument in which a new-school bonsai artist shut down criticism of non-traditional potting of trees by citing ‘Fountain.’
I dunno if anyone here has had the unique . . . um, pleasure . . . of spending time around people who geek out on bonsai, but they are (in my region, anyway) almost entirely crotchety old white men who lose their entire shit if your tree’s branches aren’t spaced according to a very strict formula. (This is changing, but slowly, and mostly because privileged *young* white men want to take it in a different direction . . . sigh.)
I hold that as kind of a litmus test — if you are more regressive and reactionary than a 65-year-old male bonsai enthusiast, you are broken, end of story.
And sunnysombrera — I needed some /hailhortler in my life today, I just didn’t know it. Thanks <3
It’s not only Nazis using “degenerate” unfortunately. The last few years I’ve noticed an uptick among lefitsts, esp. Marxist/Leninist/Maoist spectrum folks. And almost always from ones who are straight, white, and cisgender.
Even when it doesn’t go along with red/brown talk about how e.g. queerness is a bourgeois distraction, working class solidarity with fascists, etc. I find the normalization pretty alarming, because a lot of times language is the leading edge of propaganda.
@.45, @Dormousing_it
I’ve seen a fair number of LGBT people reclaiming “degenerate” as a term for themselves, especially those who are sex workers and/or in the BSDM scene. I don’t try to reclaim it myself though – maybe as a Jew the feelings are a bit too raw.
@Cyborgette
“everything i don’t like is a bourgeois distraction” say the bros who spend their time posting on twitter dot com 🤔
Isn’t Duchamp’s “Fountain” from, like, 1917? Fascists have had over 100 years to try to make the rest of society “embarrassed to put [it] in a gallery or teach about it in a school”, and it hasn’t worked so far.
Kind of surprised they’re reduced to dragging out their great-grandparents’ “scandalous” art sensations to complain about; you would think they might be able to think of some more recent examples. (But of course, that would require them to actually know something about contemporary art… yeah, not so surprised actually.)
@ kimstu
I guess they go more for stuff like this.
@Ada Christine
I mean yes, but these guys also try to take over socialist orgs. And gatecrash protests with class reductionist propaganda. And just make themselves a nuisance in organizing, talking about how “feelings don’t matter” and “anything not material is inconsequential” and “white privilege is a bourgeois liberal myth” etc. And their ideas have legs, because a lot of the people in US leftist spaces are white cishet men just as a matter of statistics. As always IMO we have to watch for this garbage, and come down on it hard when it shows up.
@Alan: would that were what they go for. More like Thomas Kinkade, may he rest in hell.
@just-a-nerd: My college dorm had previously been all-male, so our floor’s bathroom had also been. The urinals remained, and were filled with artificial plants and flowers so it was more girly.
The Dada Baroness would have been proud, I think. We subverted the patriarchy.
@ gss ex-noob
At the risk of going art nerd, there is a bit of a connection between both those artists.
Well, actually there’s a lot of resonances; but this is the one that strikes me.
They both tend not to feature any actual people in their works. They’re all about the landscape. When people do feature they tend to be very impersonal and unidentifiable; just tiny anonymous figures.
Some experts have been asked to analyse the first works above, without knowing the artist.
One thing that often comes back is that they seem to suggest the artist has a complete disinterest in people generally and as individuals in particular. Essentially a complete inability to recognise and identify with humanity.
Degenerate is word used a lot by religious extremists too. The “degenerate West” and so on.
It’s a good job they all hate each other because every flavour of fascist from every corner of the globe have so much in common when you really get down to it.
The intersection of the alt-right with Nazi jargon is approaching 100%. It is all in their heads. They are the ones viewing being trans and gay as pedophilia, because well, they have consumed enough content arguing that women should be breed starting at 12.
@sunnysombrera
Hilarious that Nazis want to criticise art when half of them can’t even spray paint a swastika correctly. See r/hailhortler for examples.
I recall a bus stop shelter in my previous neighborhood on which someone had Magic-Markered “AYRAN BROTHERHOOD.”
@ full metal ox & sunnysombrera
I’m reminded of some graffiti here; which prompted the response:
“Bloody ‘immagrunts’, coming over here and stealing our dictionaries.”