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[[File:Demonization.jpg|frame|'I am the Pope.']]
{{quote|''"That's the problem with being the devil, [[Hypocritical Humor|everybody demonizes you]]."''
|'''[[Satan]]''', ''[[Old Harry's Game]]''}}
All The Tropes [[Truth in Television|is the devil]]. It teaches our children [[Fetish Fuel|it's okay to be aroused by filth]]. It wants to make [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|everyone in the world fat and lazy]], [[All the Tropes Will Ruin Your Vocabulary|pollutes the English language even more than Internet speak]] and unlike those [[The Aggressive Drug Dealer|evil drug dealers]], they will actually admit they want to ruin your life!<ref>No wait, [[All the Tropes Ruined Your Life (Darth Wiki)|they already did!]]</ref> Self-identity is discouraged among the members of this cult, to the point where personal pronouns and references to oneself are [[Natter|actively]] discouraged. [[We All Live in America|It's]] [[Eagle Land|anti-American]].
Of course none of that is true, or completely true, but that's how
After all, [[All The Tropes:Complaining About Shows You Don't
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 [[
[[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
A [[Super-Trope]] to [[Attack of the Political Ad]], [[Ron the Death Eater]].
Compare with [[Accentuate the Negative]] (amplifying negatives instead of just [[Ass Pull|pulling them from nowhere]]), [[Everyone Is Satan in Hell]] (when the [[Rule of Symbolism|symbolism]] of a work is interpreted to be demonic), [[Character Derailment]] (a writer suddenly has a character act demonic for no good reason), [[Godwin's Law]] (comparing persons or ideas you don't like to Hitler and/or Nazism, which carry the same connotation of absolute evil), [[Ron the Death Eater]] (demonizing a character in fan fiction), [[Digital Piracy Is Evil]], [[Abomination Accusation Attack]].
Contrast with [[Rose
{{examples}}
* Hitler gets a cameo in the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' movie. He never speaks {{spoiler|well, almost}}, but the camera constantly pans to his eyes, which have a mad, manic glare that gives the impression that he's constantly about to snap and kill everybody around him. This is likely based off the impression gained from Hilter's appearance during his speeches; as his message was one of furious anger at the state Germany had fallen into, manic energy and passion were part of his performance. Note that his in-universe appearance was set prior to his rise to power, and that the "rage-filled" persona was built up ''before'' he was dosed up on all kinds of stimulants and psychoactive "vitamin" regiments by his doctors...
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* Invoked in ''[[Code Geass]]'' with a character getting himself basically nicknamed "Lelouch the Demon".
* [[Chick Tract
▲== [[Comic Books]] ==
▲* [[Chick Tract|Chick Tracts]] are infamous for this, often literally tying anything Chick doesn't like (for example, [[Dungeons and Dragons]] or rock and roll) to Satan. Semi-justified; he thinks the things he's demonizing are truly demonic...which is still cold comfort in some cases.
* ''[[Cerebus]]'' does this to the ''entire female gender'' for the last third or so of its run (very arguably earlier).
* Elf/human relations in ''[[Elf Quest]]'' are traditionally prone to this as the humans tend to try to fit the elves into their own pre-existing belief systems as supernatural beings. Which means that elf tribes who aren't lucky enough to hit it off ''very'' well with their human neighbors right away tend to get quickly labeled 'tricksters' and 'evil spirits'.
** Admittedly, the Wolfriders have a tendency to make this reputation for themselves in their early history, when harassing humans was something they did for fun.
▲== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' does this simultaneously to communism and theism by having the main villains of the series be an evil [[The Empire|empire]] set out to conquer all of the world and force their fundamentalist religion and bureaucratic soviet economy upon it.
* ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' does this the most literal way possible, identifying the gods from the other religions of the ancient Levant as higher ranked of Satan.
* ''[[In Death]]'': Defense attorneys tend be subjected to this. Then again, the story is told from the perspective of a cop who arrests criminals and then has to testify against them, so....
* ''[[
* There are various webpages on the Internet (such as [https://web.archive.org/web/20120921234431/http://www.shoshone.k12.id.us/
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* An episode of ''[[Forever Knight]]'' had a flashback in which Hitler was portrayed as a man so full of evil that it made him [[Even Evil Has Standards|too evil to turn into a vampire]].
▲== Music ==
* "Phantoms Of Death" by [[Helloween]].
* This also happens in-game in ''[[Warhammer
▲== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
▲* This also happens in-game in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' as one of the Thoughts of the Day demonstrates:
▲{{quote| A logical argument must be dismissed with absolute conviction.}}
** And Lord Karamazov gives us this memorable line:
{{quote|
* ''[[Dungeons
▲== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Psychonauts]]'' {{spoiler|Raz's dad, Augustus Aquato}} is said to hate psychics, among other things, his image in {{spoiler|Oleander and Raz's head, merged together}}, shows this quite a bit. {{spoiler|"Man do I hate Psychics, and seeing my son happy!"}} The real version is, of course, ''nothing'' like that; in fact, he is horrified when he sees the mental image. {{spoiler|"Rasputin, is that really how you think of me? [[Comically Missing the Point|Come on! I have WAY more hair than that!]]"}}
* A well-popularized example: Back in the late nineties, there was some backlash against ''[[Pokémon]]'' by varying [[Moral Guardians|fundamentalist groups]], who claimed that the games (and related series) promoted violence and occult imagery. Notably, the ''Vatican'' publicly defended ''Pokémon'' from these detractors. More specifically, the Vatican defended ''Pokémon'' on the issue of evolution, of all things.
** ''Pokémon'', among tons of other "new media", are still treated this way by many fundamentalists.
* Done in-game to [[Ratchet and Clank]] in ''[[Ratchet: Deadlocked]]'', although the audience isn't falling for it. This demonization reaches [[Implausible Deniability]] when kids clearly cheering for Ratchet are dubbed over on the show.
* ''[[Captain Planet]]'' had Hitler's [[Death Glare|very gaze]]
▲== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[South Park]]'' often makes fun of far-left concepts, but sometimes goes too far by portraying some environmentalists as [[Axe Crazy]]. Not just eco-terrorists -- ''all'' environmentalists. Or the episode "Canada On Strike", which implied people were starving to death during the 2008 [[TV Strikes|Writers Strike]]. In fact, ''South Park'' is open to demonizing and attacking everyone. It was arguably its writers who popularized the demonization of Scientology mentioned in the example above.▼
▲* ''[[Captain Planet]]'' had Hitler's [[Death Glare|very gaze]] be as bad as pollution on Captain Planet. A big problem with the series was that the villains were into polluting for no good reason, which implied that anyone who polluted was just a plain villain instead of someone making a mistake -- even a big one.
▲* ''[[South Park]]'' often makes fun of far-left concepts, but sometimes goes too far by portraying some environmentalists as [[Axe Crazy]]. Not just eco-terrorists -- ''all'' environmentalists. Or the episode "Canada On Strike", which implied people were starving to death during the 2008 [[TV Strikes|Writers Strike]]. In fact, ''South Park'' is open to demonizing and attacking everyone. It was arguably its writers who popularized the demonization of Scientology example above.
* In ''[[Drawn Together]]'', virtually every character with conservative viewpoints are often portrayed as ignorant, racist, homophobic, overzealous religious nutjobs, or otherwise just plain heartless or hypocritical. Clara often exhibited such traits, especially in later episodes, and even antagonized some of the main characters due to her remarkably intolerant political and religious views. On the other hand, while other main characters certainly had unlikeable aspects to their personality, they're not nearly as close-minded (aside from the occasional joke about Xandir's sexuality) and Foxxy (one of the more liberal characters on the show) is often depicted as the voice of reason.
* Similar to the above example is ''[[Family Guy]]''. Conservatives, Christians, pro-lifers, and in general, people who don't agree with the writers' political views get this treatment, which unfortunately, affected the show's quality. In fact, that's why the infamous episode "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" is so reviled: Christians are portrayed as zealous, ignorant and extremely intolerant.
* [[Exaggerated Trope|Exaggerated]] in the ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpsons]]'' episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts", which depicts the Springfield Republican Party as zealots who hold meetings (prefaced by a round of [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]) in an ominous castle straight out of a [[Hammer Horror]] film, and who at one point confuse a water cooler with their mayoral candidate.
* ''[[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 [[
* The ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' episode "Operation: B.U.L.L.I.E.S." depicts bullies as giant dinosaur-like
* Megatron in ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' does this for
==
* Political and war [[propaganda]] is usually loaded with this
{{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 but Inefficient|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]}}
* [[Scare Campaign|Scare Campaigns]] tend to be made of this trope.▼
* 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.
** The most well known example is the [[Red Scare]]. The Soviet Union did NOT have a "missile gap" (that is, much more nukes than the US), they did NOT want to start [[World War III]], and the "Communist Rules for Revolution" were a conspiracy theory.▼
* ''[[Harry Potter]]'' has been accused of teaching children devil-lore. Worse, some of the cherry picked lines used to 'prove' the evil lessons come from Voldemort, the [[Big Bad]].▼
▲** The most well known example is the [[Red Scare]]. The Soviet Union did
* [[Ayn Rand]] often gets portrayed very negatively. Often her form of [[Useful Notes/Objectivism|Objectivism]] gets lumped in with many extreme right political philosophies or portrayed as a license to be a complete [[Jerkass]]. That some some notable Objectivists have apparently taken it to be such doesn't help. [[Ayn Rand]] herself liked to portray ''her'' political adversaries as completely morally bankrupt with no redeeming qualities what-so-ever.▼
*** However, the Soviets did put a significant amount of disinformation efforts into making us ''believe'' that the first two were true, because intimidation is a valid diplomatic strategy (and so is bluffing). As for the third, the "Communist Rules For Revolution" are an only moderate reinterpretation of Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony and associated political strategies for coming to infiltrate and dominate social institutions, and he was the founder of the Italian Communist Party.
** A good example of this is can be found on [[Rational Wiki]]. The portrayal of Objectivists as insane, immoral cult members who worship cigarettes like they worship their atheist god seems like a parody written by a very unimaginative Objectivist wanting to smear his opponents by portraying them as simple minded children lacking any real arguments, and the pages are guarded with a passion and reverted back to their current versions very quickly if anyone tries to make them more... [[Irony|Rational.]] Who knew that that website coined the term [[Poe's Law]].▼
*** There were also a certain number of governments involved in the Cold War that at least ''attempted'' some kind of psychological warfare operations to disorient, manipulate, or sabotage an enemy nation's population and cultural institutions. That number is "all of them".
▲* ''[[Harry Potter]]'' has been accused of teaching children devil-lore. Worse, some of the cherry
▲* [[Ayn Rand]] often gets portrayed very negatively. Often her form of [[
▲** A good example of this is can be found on [[
* Some portrayals of [[Adolf Hitler]] forget that he was still a ''man,'' not some kind of ultimate incarnation of evil.
** In fact, Bruno Ganz got a lot of negative press for "humanizing" Hitler with his portrayal in ''[[Downfall (film)|Downfall]]'' (this wouldn't of course count those that made the "Hitler Reacts" videos). If anything, such a portrayal could be used to further emphasize the inhumanity he so encouraged towards his fellow man.
* Examples of this can be found on all sides of religious debates. Many groups are simultaneously victims and perpetrators.
* [[New Media Are Evil]]: Various new forms of media get subjected to this by people who hate it, and the demonization never truly ends.
** Television is often faced with this, which has led to a number of tropes (such as [[Bowdlerise]]) in an attempt to dodge demonization.
** [[Video Games]]. After any school shooting or random act of violence, it's not uncommon to hear the "and he played violent video games" line broken out.
* [[Heavy Metal]]. Satanic and anti-religion lyrical themes weren't particularly prominent in the genre until they started popping up as a backlash against the [[Moral Guardians]]' constant claims that the music was demonic. There were earlier bands that sang about Satan (
* Scientology is famous for its hatred of psychiatry. Many people on the Internet are also extremely negative toward Scientology, to the point that many people paint the group as a blatant [[Cult of Happyology]] one step above sacrificing people to [[L. Ron Hubbard]], who gets plenty of this himself.
* Many of the louder and more extreme animal rights groups tend to demonize anyone who eats meat. Annoyed omnivores often react by demonizing all animal rights groups, vegetarians, etc.
* Anti
* [[Oda Nobunaga]]. The amount of media portraying him as a devil incarnate far outweighs the same portraying him in a sympathetic light.
* All abortion opponents are backwards misogynists hellbent on reproductive slavery. All abortion advocates are enthusiastic child-murderers and will ''force'' you to abort your child.
* In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a few fundamentalist groups spread the story that the classic Peace Sign was a medieval witches' mark which was, depending on the particular version you encountered, either the footprint of a raven or an upside-down cross with its arms broken. [[wikipedia:Peace symbols|A little research]] will reveal that the peace sign was actually created in 1958 for the nuclear disarmament movement and is formed from stick figures representing the semaphore letters "N" and "D".
* Many anti-pornography activists use arguments centered around [[Blatant Lies]] and accusations that have little or no basis in reality (for example, describing a scene in which the female participant asks her partner to spank her as depicting "women being beaten"). Of course, the reverse happens as well. People who point out problems and issues in the industry or with specific types of porn are all frigid lesbians who want to emasculate and/or kill all men and just need to get laid.
* Military juntas, coups, and militocratic systems are almost ''always'' demonized, whether they deserve it or not, and regardless of who their opposition is.
* Demonizing the Japanese has been a pretty heated subject that tends to show up every decade or so:
** During the 40's, American propaganda portrayed the Japanese were portrayed as insects, mice, rats, inhuman beasts, or unflattering caricatures of Emperor Hirohito (most famously in the [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/3/33/20100125180549!Tokio_Kid_Say.png Tokio Kid] posters.
** In the 80s, when Japan was experiencing a period of economic wealth and proceeded to buy buildings and land from American developers, along with building tons of factories, a resounding cry of "THEY'RE TEKKIN OUR JERBS" was heard from coast to coast, and fearmongering news reports that [[Japan Takes Over the World|Asian people were only in your town to buy it up]] and evict everyone were prevalent.
** More recently, news outlets stirred up the honey pot by using [http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/japan.video.game.rape/ a four year old hentai game] as evidence that all Japanese are rape-minded sex fiends. This prompted some [https://web.archive.org/web/20160128103606/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99713-CNN-RapeLay-Controversy-Sparks-Angry-Response fiery rebuttals] from native citizens, saying that people living in glass houses should not throw stones.
* When [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''Invincible'' didn't sell as well as he'd hoped, he claimed to the press and his fans that his label Sony Music's head Tommy Mottola was racist: "He's a mean [sic], he's a racist, and he's very, very, very devilish." This [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1455976/20020708/jackson_michael.jhtml backfired instantly]. In a related issue, since Jackson's death a [[Vocal Minority]] of his fans (the website [http://www.innermichael.com InnerMichael.com] is a good example) likes to demonize the mass media as bloodthirsty, racist jackals who caricatured Jackson as a "freak" to make money; this carries on from Jackson's constant complaining about the media in his lifetime to the point that he wrote multiple songs on the subject. Of course, the fans' claims require Jackson to be elevated to the level of [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth]]...
* Talk Radio hosts and cable news networks. All of them have political slants, it's the nature of the beast, but to hear people of either political leaning, the outlets that are proponents of the other side are just plain evil and guilty of the worst forms of treason. Of course, the ones they agree with are just here to save the country.
* There is some evidence that the [https://web.archive.org/web/20100805194346/http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/classes/finALp.html Perseus and Medusa myth] was created as part of a way to demonize a female-centric religion by the highly patriarchal Greek society. The existence of said female-centric religion is still a matter of academic debate.
* On that note, a number of mythological figures were quite literally demonized by later religions - depictions of [[Satan]] for example, give him [[Prongs of Poseidon]] and the goat-features of the Greek god Pan.
** On ''that'' note, even the term "demon" was demonized, thanks to early Christianity and Judaism. [[wikipedia:Daimon|The original Greek]] ''[[wikipedia:Daimon|daimon]]'' sometimes (maybe even most of the time) referred to a ''[[wikipedia:Demon#Terminology|good]]'' spirit.
** As a matter of fact, [[Jerkass Gods|the entire Greek Patheon]] is demonized today, thanks to [[Values Dissonance]] and [[Flanderization]].
** The ''[[Ars Goetia]]'' is described as an encyclopedia of gods who have been demonized by Christianity.
* Some public figures who are perceived as sinister have this happen to them in a literal sense, with satirists joking about them smelling of sulfur or accusing them of being vampires.
* [[Canadian Politics|Ontario Premier]] Dalton McGuinty is an [[wikipedia:Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet|evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet]]. Apparently.
* [[Snopes]].com has a collection of repeatedly plagiarized scares. Many are pearls of [[Black Comedy]] and/or [[Hypocritical Humor]], including insults to the public's mental abilities as big as [http://www.snopes.com/military/stamp.asp the story about a PoW] who wrote a letter with secret note on the backside its postage stamp, ''after his captors cut off his hands.''
** Speaking of Snopes, their crew came to hate satire site ''[http://thepeoplescube.com/ People's Cube]'' to such a ridiculous degree that they avoid referring to it by name even while accusing it in spreading malware.
* Interestingly, averted in German [[World War
* Ultimate proof that absolutely no one is safe from demonization, FOX News has accused [[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood|Mr. Rogers]]
* [[wikipedia:Dihydrogen monoxide hoax|Dihydrogen]] [http://www.snopes.com/science/dhmo.asp monoxide] is a colorless, odorless, tasteless chemical that kills thousands of people every year. Accidental inhalation and even skin contact (in both solid and liquid form) can be hazardous. The chemical has been found
* The standard response of ''any'' conspiracy theorist to ''anyone'' that
** This applies to many more extreme (well, basic and "normal ones too, but that's a different entry) political ideologies as well. Example: Try bringing up the mass murder committed under Marxist-Leninist Communist regimes, and the immediate response from a Marxist-Leninist is going to be having you branded an [[Eagle Land|Eaglelander]] (regardless of whether you live there), a member of he bourgeoisie (regardless of your actual socio-economic background), an imperialist, a capitalist, and a fascist. All rolled into one. The same sort of thing happens if you try to argue with a Neo-Nazi about... well, ''anything''. Disagree with them, and you're simply blinded by the
* This happens
* The Dutch politician Geert Wilders has used "I'm being demonized" as a tagline for a while. Many of his opponents thought it was funny, since he's not exactly known for being entirely politically correct about everyone himself.
* During an anti-Trump rally, one protester (representative of Vatican 2.0?) had a sign with Trump drawn with horns and explanation: "El Maligno" (literally "The Evil One" - referring to Satan). See on zombietime, ''[http://www.zombietime.com/inside_the_anti-trump_circus/ Inside the Anti-Trump Circus: Here Comes the Summer of Hate]''.
* The last four{{when}} Republican Presidential candidates were all repeatedly compared to Hitler during their campaigns (and their terms in office for the ones who actually got elected), both by pundits and by people posting to the Internet. It's gotten to the point that bloggers make jokes that 'Every Republican is Hitler for fifteen minutes'.
* Still on American politics, this has been the tool and purpose of the Republican party's efforts since the 1980s at redefining the conflict between Right and Left as an outright cultural war between "good" and "evil", as opposed to a more civil conflict between "haves" and "have-nots". A strategy initially proposed in the modern era by [[Pat Buchanan]] and put into practice by [[Newt Gingrich]], it was intended to cast progressive ideals and goals as morally unacceptable to the Republican base even when supporting them would be in their own best interests. The tactic has worked spectacularly well for the Republicans, to the point that as of 2021, after a generation or two of this indoctrination, the most fervent members of their base (and no few younger elected officials) reject common-sense medical care out of the perception that it is "liberal", believe every Democrat is a devil-worshiping communist pedophile, and gladly advocate overthrowing the US government to install a permanent Republican regime.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Meta Concepts]]
[[Category:Bad Writing Index]]
[[Category:The War On Straw]]
▲[[Category:Demonization]]
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