Degenerate art (German: Entartete Kunst) was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, was removed from state-owned museums and banned in Nazi Germany on the grounds that such art was an “insult to German feeling”, un-German, Freemasonic, Jewish, or Communist in nature. Those identified as degenerate artists were subjected to sanctions that included being dismissed from teaching positions, being forbidden to exhibit or to sell their art, and in some cases being forbidden to produce art. … Nordau developed from this premise a critique of modern art, explained as the work of those so corrupted and enfeebled by modern life that they have lost the self-control needed to produce coherent works. … his theory of artistic degeneracy would be seized upon by German Nazis during the Weimar Republic as a rallying point for their antisemitic and racist demand for Aryan purity in art.
Related dog whistle is ‘cultural marxism’. The idea that ‘’‘intellectual elites’‘’ are attempting to undermine traditional Christian values and replace them with degenerate values:
The term “Cultural Marxism” refers to a far-right antisemitic conspiracy theory that misrepresents the Frankfurt School as being responsible for modern progressive movements, identity politics, and political correctness. The conspiracy theory posits that there is an ongoing and intentional academic and intellectual effort to subvert Western society via a planned culture war that undermines the Christian values of traditionalist conservatism and seeks to replace them with culturally liberal values. … A contemporary revival of the Nazi propaganda term “Cultural Bolshevism”, the contemporary version of the conspiracy theory originated in the United States during the 1990s. Originally found only on the far-right political fringe, the term began to enter mainstream discourse in the 2010s and is now found globally
Relevant wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art
Related dog whistle is ‘cultural marxism’. The idea that ‘’‘intellectual elites’‘’ are attempting to undermine traditional Christian values and replace them with degenerate values:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Marxism_conspiracy_theory
Thank you for that very important reminder. It’s no surprise that “degeneracy” was the word used here.