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[–] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (17 children)

A word doesn’t belong to alt-right losers just because it becomes popular on 4chan for a bit.

It came from Nazis, from Hitler and Goebbels. 4chan picked it up because 4chan has a lot of racists & neo-Nazis.

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  • [–] -5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (16 children)

    All I'm saying is treating the word as a dog whistle is dumb. It not a code word for "undesirables" or wtv fucked up shit the nazis and 4chan are using it for. Normal people use it with the new agreed upon definition.

    Part of me also thinks it's caving into 4chan and the like. It's encouraging their definition even though it hasn't been valid for a few decades already. They don't get to define the word and I won't stop using it because of them essentially.

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  • [+] 7 points 1 year ago (7 children)
  • [–] -5 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Except it's literally not the fucking dictionary definition.

    Per oxford:

    noun noun: degenerate; plural noun: degenerates /dəˈjen(ə)rət/

    an immoral or corrupt person.
    "get out of my house, you degenerate!"
    
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  • [+] 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)
  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

    So the definition in the link you gave does not mention the word undesirable or reference groups of people who the nazis considered undesirable.

    Edit: well the Merriam definition is a bit closer to the term, as in its more dehumanizing and harsher. I don't really think it's enough to be equivalent. I also think who you target with the word is really what makes you a nazi, and not just using it.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Dictionary definitions are almost completely useless for historical/social analysis. It's much more accurate to examine etymology and historical usage. The history of this term is very very very clearly fascist especially in USA. The people who commonly use this term are fash-adjacent at best even if they don't realize it.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    No, it’s about ethics in gaming journalism!

    GTFO, sealion. If you’re still defending this hours later, you’re trolling.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    People are still responding to me. So yes, I will reply. I dont understand the reference to gaming journalism?

    Can't I also say the same thing about you. Why are you responding hours later, are you trolling right now?

    And although you might have a point with not wanting to have dehumanizing language in the community, it doesn't mean he isn't wrong with his dictionary definition.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

    Normal people use it using the new agreed upon definition.

    That’s the old, pre-fascist, pre-eugenicist definition, not a new one, and no, we don’t use it, because we haven’t been living under a rock for the last ninety years. We know what a dog whistle is.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (3 children)

    Languages evolve I guess. I know blink 182 had a song named "degenerate". If I enter the word in chosic, I get 7000 hits (songs with the word in the lyrics). I find the expression "degenerate gambler" is kind of common? Idk.

    Just trying to show that the word is common and lost it's ties to nazis and fascists a long time ago. Just a regular but harsh insult imo, but wtv.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    https://www.dangerousspeech.org/libraries/dangerous-metaphors-how-dehumanizing-rhetoric-works

    One speaker said: “And, at some point, we will have enough power that we will clear them from the streets forever, that which is degenerate in white countries will be removed.” This racist statement implied that the people in question represent a hygienic threat to the society that should be eliminated. The existence of these humans was reduced by the speaker to “degeneration”. This biological term refers to unstoppable deterioration that can be prevented only by the eradication of the subject.

    The reason we’re so hard-ass about dehumanizing terms and other dog whistles on Lemmy is because we know how online fora become Nazi bars like 4chan. We remember and learned from GamerGate. The whole BreadTube phenomenon was formed around countering “alt-right” influencers in online spaces.

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