I'm more concerned about the behavior people have where they think that other people need to change their own believes, practices, behaviors to accept what they want in their own lives. It's destructive (and not in any way "good). It's forcing someone else's beliefs onto someone else. I mean, it's cool if you (not you but "you") want to live your life that way but to tell everyone else that they have to accept "you" and what you find acceptable in life is just as vile and evil as forcing someone to adopt religious beliefs.
It destroys the sense of community and kinship groups of people have. Some people call it "tribalism" as though it's a bad thing. Regardless, this weakening or destruction of kinship or community destroys the arrows or direction towards a goal of betterment of a local group.
Of course, that's not always the case. There are groups with moralities and codes of ethics which aren't just backwards but are demonstrably straight-up harmful. And I'm not talking about the people who follow those codes but rather the foundation itself.
I myself have redefined degeneracy to something a bit simpler: if it's something where you lose control or base/primal like you might expect an animal to do, then it's degenerate. It's stricter, in a sense, but also more tightly focused on the betterment of the whole and the individual by exploiting the community and "tribal" nature of humanity (since we aren't at a point where we can resolve all those things yet).
I accept people changes either way. Only processes degenerate.
I agree with everything else. No one has the right to force others to mimic their own behavior. People are individuals. As long as the person is not harming another, then go in peace. Community is based on kindred spirits, desires, goals, beliefs. When a person doesn't fit in, they should be allowed to leave or continue on, but with being harassed for being who they are.
I like to think that I am pretty tolerant of most things. I don't cotton to anyone being forward with children, harming another, or to senseless destruction of another's property in tantrum, so those would get stiff punishments were it my duty to pass them out.
Community is based on kindred spirits, desires, goals, beliefs. When a person doesn't fit in, they should be allowed to leave or continue on, but with being harassed for being who they are.
That's completely contradictory. When someone does not fit into the community (meaning that they have chosen to not be a part of it), they have no place in that community. Nothing else about anything matters. They should leave and form their own community instead of complaining to others about how they're not accepted.
were it my duty to pass them out
I would not be fit for handing out punishments. If a person knew it was a crime and they did not have a compelling enough reason to mitigate punishment, I would be so harsh that people would yank me out of the position. If you know better, don't do it. If you don't like how things are, change things instead of ignoring the law. And so on. Most of the time there's no reason to commit crimes.
Many people use religion as a behavioral framework because that is how they were raised and they need that for their moral compass. I shy away from subjective terms, such as degeneracy. In itself, the word implies there is a single accepted standard, which is not true. I find that word and its definition much more useful (and valid) when discussing harmonics.