Demonization: Difference between revisions

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No, you want people to hate this thing. So you will do whatever you can to make this thing seem truly evil. It kills people (based on one or two deaths, that were quickly proven unrelated)! It ruined a nation (was coincidentally a fad in a country just before a coup d'etat)! God told you it's the sign of the devil (but somehow didn't tell anyone else, if it was that important)! If it is a race, a nation, or another group of people, they are [[Exclusively Evil]]!

[[War On Straw|Strawman arguments]] can be a form of demonization at times (and vice-versa), but the two terms differ; strawman arguments involve making a weaker and logically inconsistent statement of the opponent's views in order to demolish them, while demonization usually ignores those positions outright in favor of a totally invented narrative. Somewhat related is "steelmanning", which portrays a given set of views as ''absurdly stronger'' than they really are. though this is also something that can be done in good faith - with demonization, you may prefer to think of a specific quote by [[Umberto Eco]].<ref name="Eternal">{{quote|...However, the followers must be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.|Umberto Eco, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160319123249/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/ Ur-Fascism]}}

[[War On Straw|Strawman arguments]] can be a form of demonization at times (and vice-versa), but the two terms differ; strawman arguments involve making a weaker and logically inconsistent statement of the opponent's views in order to demolish them, while demonization usually ignores those positions outright in favor of a totally invented narrative. Somewhat related is "steelmanning", which portrays a given set of views as ''absurdly stronger'' than they really are. though this is also something that can be done in good faith - with demonization, you may prefer to think of a specific quote by [[Umberto Eco]].

A [[Super-Trope]] to [[Attack of the Political Ad]], [[Ron the Death Eater]].

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* ''[[The Smurfs]]'' have been [[Everyone Is Satan in Hell|accused of representing the seven deadly sins]], with Papa Smurf as the devil and Gargamel as a good priest.

* Deconstructed [[In-Universe]] in ''[[My Life as a Teenage Robot]]'': Evil Queen Vexus of Cluster Prime has lied to her own robot people about Earth's defender, [[Robot Girl]] XJ9, presenting her like an [[Exclusively Evil]], [[Beauty Equals Goodness|horrible monster]] of a robot that wants to destroy her own kind in various propaganda videos. When XJ9 accidentally goes to Cluster Prime, all the robots see her for the cute, normal, [[The Hero|heroic robot who wants to help and protect others]] that she is. This is Queen Vexus' downfall.

* The ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' episode "Operation: B.U.L.L.I.E.S." depicts bullies as giant dinosaur-like ~~creatures~~ with names like Spitballosaurus and Wedgiesaurus Rex.

* The ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' episode "Operation: B.U.L.L.I.E.S." depicts bullies as giant dinosaur-like humanoids with names like Spitballosaurus and Wedgiesaurus Rex.

* Megatron in ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' does this for {{spoiler|an amnesic Optimus/Orion}}, saying that Ratchet was the [[Big Bad]] and that the reason the Autobots call them "Decepticons" was as a form of Autobot propaganda.

==[[Real Life]]==

* Political and war [[propaganda]] is usually loaded with this, from almost all sides and towards all sides - but it is a particular tenet of fascist ideology, as described by Umberto Eco~~.<ref name="Eternal">~~

* Political and war [[propaganda]] is usually loaded with this, from almost all sides and towards all sides - but it is a particular tenet of fascist ideology, as described by Umberto Eco:

{{quote|...However, the followers must be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak. Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy.|Umberto Eco, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160319123249/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/ Ur-Fascism]}}

* One of the old ones is "Black Legend", from England. Because everything would be just peachy in Americas - if not for those dastardly Spaniards who wrecked everything and slaughtered everyone.

* [[Scare Campaign]]s tend to be made of this trope.