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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 8, 2026

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I think part of the definition of art is that it's not done for money or status, but rather it's genuine self-expression.

There have been so many atrocious offenses against good taste widely considered to be "art" that I can't take any attempts to define what is or isn't art as anything more than fart-sniffing snobbery. Or at least any definitions more exclusive than something like "human creative expression" or something along those lines (inb4 some pedant asks nonsense like "well then can animal creative expression be art?" or whatever).

What does it even matter if something is (or isn't) art? Outside of potential financial interests like government grants for your art that might be affected if the government suddenly decided that your art isn't actually art, what single effect does something technically being defined as "art" or "not art" have on anything? I suppose it affects how nice your fellow snobs think your farts smell if your definitions of art are in disagreement.