Line #39 Main/Demonization


1	[[quoteright:286:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Demonization.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:286:"[[TakeThat I am the Pope]]."]]
3
4	-> ''"That's the problem with being the devil, everybody demonizes you."''
5	-->-- '''{{Satan}}''', ''Radio/OldHarrysGame''
6
7	Website/TVTropes is the devil. It teaches our children [[{{Fetish}} it's okay to be aroused by filth]]. It wants to make [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife everyone in the world fat and lazy]], [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourVocabulary pollutes the English language even more than Internet speak]] and unlike those [[TheAggressiveDrugDealer evil drug dealers]], they will actually admit they want to ruin your life![[note]]No wait, [[DarthWiki/TVTropesRuinedYourLife they already did]]![[/note]] Self-identity is discouraged among the members of this cult, to the point where personal pronouns and references to oneself are [[Administrivia/ConversationInTheMainPage actively]] discouraged. It's [[{{Eagleland}} anti-American]].
8
9	Of course none of that is true, or completely true, but that's how Demonization works. It's about twisting facts, or making them up, to make something look worse. Sometimes it can actually go as far as claiming something is satanic, but usually it's more down to earth. Either way, these claims are made either without proof, or counter to actual evidence.
10
11	After all, [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch why let facts get in the way]] of [[Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike complaining about things you don't like]]?
12
13	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)! Someone (whose name escapes me) even told me that it EatsBabies and [[KickTheDog puppies]], someone [[ThinkOfTheChildren Think of The Children!!!]] If it is a race, a nation, or another group of people, they are AlwaysChaoticEvil!
14
15	[[TheWarOnStraw Strawman arguments]] can be a form of demonization at times (and vice-versa), but the two terms differ; strawman arguments involve making a weaker (or absurdly stronger) 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.
16
17	A SuperTrope to AttackOfThePoliticalAd, NicknamingTheEnemy, RonTheDeathEater, EverybodyHatesHades, HistoricalVillainUpgrade, AdaptationalVillainy, AdaptationalAbomination.
18
19	Compare with AccentuateTheNegative (amplifying negatives instead of just [[AssPull pulling them from nowhere]]), EveryoneIsSatanInHell (when the [[RuleOfSymbolism symbolism]] of a work is interpreted to be demonic), CharacterDerailment (a writer suddenly has a character act demonic for no good reason), GodwinsLaw (comparing persons or ideas you don't like to Hitler and/or Nazism, which carry the same connotation of absolute evil), RonTheDeathEater (demonizing a character in fan fiction), DigitalPiracyIsEvil, AbominationAccusationAttack, {{Dehumanization}}.
20
21	Contrast with RoseTintedNarrative, DracoInLeatherPants, and HistoricalHeroUpgrade.
22
23	Not to be confused with ''demonetisation'', which is what can happen if you [[Main/SirSwearsalot use too many curse words]] in your Website/YouTube video.
24
25	Since [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters one person's Demonization may seem like another person's "fair and frank criticism,"]] we should probably just say: "Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease"
26	----
27	!Examples:
28
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
32	* Invoked in ''Anime/CodeGeass''--Lelouch [[ZeroApprovalGambit deliberately drives public opinion of himself into the dirt]], to the point that others call him "Lelouch the Demon." However, it's not entirely clear whether Lelouch used rumormongering to achieve this, or whether he ''[[VillainyDiscretionShot actually]]'' carried out the many atrocities for which he had been accused.
33	* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has the [[spoiler:Eldian people, who are called "devils" by the rest of the world. This comes from their ability to transform into Titans - something no other race can do]]. They're essentially enslaved, with some of them living in ghettos and concentration camps [[spoiler:around the world, most notably in the Kingdom of Marley, who use Eldian kids as ChildSoldiers for their [[TykeBomb Warrior]] program and train them to become Titan shifters. The Eldians who live on Paradis Island (most of the main characters) are seen as even ''worse'' than the other Eldians, even by people of their own race and are considered cowardly traitors for fleeing there]].
34	* In ''Manga/KuroNoMaou'', the Ark Continent, especially the {{Church Militant}}s, "Cross Army" literally call all the natives of the Pandora continent that they want to conquer, and the humans they kidnap from other worlds, enslave, torture, put through unethical human experiments, and ultimately mind-wipe, as "demons" so they feel no guilt whatsoever about doing whatever they want with them, including wholesale slaughter. The title character, Kurono - having gone through all of it - whenever he faces a group of Cross Army soldiers, and hasn't gone into a berserker state throws it back at them.
35	--> '''Kurono:''' Devil? Me? No, you are the devils! ''(attacks)''
36	* In ''Literature/HighSchoolDXD'', the Devils are victim of demonization. In the setting, Devils really aren't evil. Most of them want to live normal lives like everyone else. Satan himself is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, and Devils in general don't hold any ill intentions or preconceived notions about Angels or Humans. But thanks to the Holy Bible, itself described as "the greatest [[PropagandaPiece piece of propaganda]] that God ever created", both Angels and Fallen Angels believe that Devils are [[AlwaysChaoticEvil inherently malevolent]] and that should be hunted down and exterminated for the sake of everyone else.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Comic Books]]
40	* The ComicBook/ChickTracts are infamous for this, often literally tying anything Chick doesn't like (for example, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' or Rock 'n Roll) to Satan.
41	* ''ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark'' does this to the ''entire female gender'' for the last third or so of its run (very arguably earlier).
42	* Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/HolyTerror'' does this to Muslims and those of the Islamic faith by implying that they are ''all'' part of Al-Qaeda. It was originally pitched as a Batman story, but for fairly obvious reasons, DC turned it down.
43	* Metahumans undergo this in ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'', thanks to a whole confluence of factors, primarily the meddling of Doctor Manhattan.
44	* Mutants are famously "hated and feared" in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. Why they get this treatment when other metahumans don't is considered to be a bit puzzling, but the general explanation is the very clear knowledge that mutants are not just odd ones out, but an existential threat to baseline humanity by their mere existence - they're meant to replace them. Also, it's sometimes implied to be caused/aggravated by outside forces e.g. John Sublime.
45	* In-universe example: The Daily Bugle will make sure the world knows that ComicBook/SpiderMan is a menace, even if they have to massage the facts to fit the narrative. This gets brought up, repeatedly, InUniverse and as of 2020, J. Jonah Jameson, the primary driver of the Bugle's hate for Spidey and the main reason he is a HeroWithBadPublicity, has come to regard it as OldShame (partly because [[spoiler: he knows who Spider-Man is now]]).
46	* Elf/human relations in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' are traditionally prone to this; humans often try to fit the elves into their 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'.
47	** 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.
48	* The Germans in the UsefulNotes/WorldWarI serial ''ComicBook/GoldenEyesAndHerHeroBill'' are painted as savage, violent, sneaky, and vehemently misogynistic to boot--the only named German character using his position in the army to capture [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty and attempt to assault]] the American heroine. He believes that women are to be treated as "servants and slaves and dolls!" and when she fights back, he hauls her to the top of the trenches with the intent to shoot her in front of the onrushing American soldiers. Even [[CanineCompanion the dog]] who gets to narrate a chapter describes the German forces as "that army who ravished the children—the women—the fruit trees—of God!"
49	* ''ComicBook/JohnnyTurbo'' portrays NEC's rival company, Creator/{{SEGA}} (renamed FEKA in the comic) as evil robots who lie to children.
50	* ''ComicBook/EdgeOfSpiderVerse2023:'' Much like her alternate universe counterpart, Spinstress finds herself on the receiving end of bad press when she comes home from multiverse shenanigans, with wanted posters portraying her as a four-armed monstrosity, and her pet spider Webster as an even bigger spider (when he's small enough to fit in the palm of someone's hand). It proves slightly advantageous when Kraven the Huntsman comes looking for her, as he refuses to believe Spinstress is who she says she is, because she doesn't ''look'' like her poster.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Fan Works]]
54	* PRT propaganda would have you believe [[Fanfic/WeaverNine Weaver's Society]] has a habit of forcing innocents into its service. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially since this is an extremely sore point for Taylor herself. Several assertions seem to follow this trend, and while it is unequivocally true the the Society has a lot of shady dealings and dubious methods, they are nothing approaching the bloodthirsty baby-eaters the PRT portrays them as
55	* Sometimes someone resorts to Demonization in an admirable attempt-gone-horribly-wrong to fix ''someone else's'' Demonization, as a case of [[HeWhoFightsMonsters they Who Fight Monsters]]. For example, the fanfic author known as Creator/CoriFalls was motivated to write most of her works in response to her frustration that Team Rocket kept getting demonized, in her view. Unfortunately, she chose to attempt to fix this demonization by demonizing ''Ash Ketchum'' instead, and she demonized everyone who stood against Team Rocket in any way, which somewhat detracted from the quality of her fanfiction and thwarted her attempt to lionize Team Rocket.
56	** As another example of "Demonization as a response to Demonization", someone wrote a fanfic called "Hogwarts Exposed", in which Hogwarts cheerfully embraced the practice of nudism, meaning everyone going around naked all the time. The fic was written as a response to the fact that most people demonize nudists as a pack of sexual perverts or irresponsible hedonists. However, there were two problems to the author's attempt to fix this demonization: One, the fic demonizes ''everyone who hates nudism'' instead. Two, the fic portrays several of the nudists as sexual perverts only without actually criticizing their behavior, thus ironically destroying the point of defending nudism in the first place! An added layer of fail is added by the fact that nudism ''isn't'' routinely demonized in the [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} country]] in which Hogwarts Exposed is [[CreatorsCultureCarryover theoretically]] set, as most people don't really give it much thought at all.
57	* In ''[[Fanfic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed Equestria: A History Revealed]]'', [[LemonyNarrator the narrator]] seems to go out of her way to demonize Celestia every time she gets, even when in subtext, it is made clear that Celestia is one of the few good guys in the fic.
58	** This has more to do with her personal bias though, as she seems to have a great aversion to speaking anything good about Celestia, going to the extent to insert [[PlayedForLaughs her own personal poetry rather than be forced to quote a source that praised the princess.]]
59	* It's mentioned in ''Fanfic/RWBYScars'' that [[FantasticRacism many humans]] demonize [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]] for their traditional religion and believe that they're Grimm worshippers.
60	* In ''Fanfic/AshsComa'', Ash demonizes his father, placing him as being the evil boss over Team Rocket.
61	* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/10026360/ Northstar Pokeshipper]], similarly to Cori Falls, often demonizes Serena in his stories, seeing her as an obstacle to his favorite pairing (Ash and Misty). Taken a step further in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13438258/29/ Chapter 29]] of his ''151 Pokeshipping Stories'', where he accusses ''the fandom'' (namely the supporters of Serena and her pairing with Ash) of being toxic, and portrays them as causing riots in Pallet Town that result in Tracey Sketchit's death. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, really]], [[MakesAsMuchSenseInContext that's what the chapter is about]].
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Film]]
65	* An InUniverse example occurs in ''Film/IShotJesseJames''. After he kills UsefulNotes/JesseJames, Robert Ford is treated and portrayed as a DirtyCoward that callously murdered Jesse, and Ford has difficulty moving on with his life because of this stigma. This actually was TruthInTelevision; Jesse James became [[JustLikeRobinHood heavily romanticized]] as a supposed noble {{outlaw}}, while Ford was treated as a traitorous snake.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Literature]]
69	* Myth/ArthurianLegend: Morgan le Fay was a victim of this, since the publication of works which were often OlderThanPrint or OlderThanSteam, like those postdating Creator/ChretienDeTroyes's ones, all because, to sit well with his audience, a healer had to be A) a man B) a nun. She was only made ''ambiguous'' and ultimately good as of ''Literature/LeMorteDArthur'', but later works show the woman who saved her brother by sending him to Avalon as a vengeful VainSorceress. Something which was partly kept up until some modern works like Marion Zimmer Bradley's modern novel ''Literature/TheMistsOfAvalon''. This may also be partly due to later works making her a CompositeCharacter taking on the traits of [[MerlinAndNimue Nimue]].
70	* This is a long-term problem for the Literature/{{Deryni}} in Gwynedd. Some churchmen and lay people believe that Deryni (the people), their powers and their use are satanic, and they say so openly in some cases. And no, it doesn't really matter the use to which those powers are put.
71	* ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'': Hrathen is on a time crunch to convert the kingdom of Arelon to his religion before [[ChurchMilitant his people's army]] shows up to do it. So he takes to blaming all Arelon's misfortunes on the wicked and sinful [[PhysicalGod Elantrians]] who lost their powers and immortality a decade ago.
72	* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' does this simultaneously to communism and theism by having the main villains of the series be an evil [[TheEmpire empire]] set out to conquer all of the world and force their fundamentalist religion and bureaucratic Soviet economy upon it.
73	%% Please, no nattering about how "impossible" or "possible" theocratic communism is.
74	* ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' does this the most literal way possible, identifying the gods from the other religions of the ancient Levant as higher ranks of Satan.
75	* The Literature/InDeath series: 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 ...
76	* ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'': Protagonist Polly's country, Borogravia, dubs the leader of the Ankh-Morpork forces "Vimes the Butcher". When she meets Vimes, he tells her that Borogravian propaganda is [[InsultBackfire laughably amateurish]].
77	* There are various webpages on the Internet (such as [[http://www.shoshone.k12.id.us/nutcracker/story.html this one]]) hosting a piece which claims that ''Literature/TheNutcracker'' was [[{{Grimmification}} originally a dark and gruesome tale completely unfit for children.]] While it ''was'' dark and gruesome by some peoples' standards, many of the "facts" listed to support the claim - such as that Marie's family doesn't love her, that Marie is depicted as lying in a pool of her own blood after injuring herself, and that her parents lock her into her room to punish her--are completely untrue.
78	* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' does this to just about everyone who disagrees with the author's views, really. Liberal college professors and mass media aren't just wrongheaded, they're part of an active conspiracy to destroy America through stealth Marxism. Feminists are [[StrawFeminist crazed man-haters]] who are just upset their love life doesn't work. Blacks are shucking and jiving purveyors of noise, filth and violence, environmentalists are fanatical hippie druids who would [[HorrorHippies kill people in job lots]] for the sake of a single tree or [[AnimalWrongsGroup squirrel]]. In one of the book's stranger moments Black Muslims seize control of Boston, facilitating an invasion by ''every Islamic country'' because everyone who prays towards Mecca gets on ''so'' well regardless of [[WeAreStrugglingTogether sectarian or ethnic differences]] ...
79	* From Piers Anthony's ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' series, we have the demonization of Magician Trent in the very first book, who lost the election to become King to the current ruler, the Storm King. As the loser of the political contest, Trent was demonized as an evil monster who transformed men into fish and let them suffocate on dry land (actually it turns out he turned them to fish ''in water'', but they then unknowingly hopped up on dry land and then suffocated). Trent actually discusses the trope when Bink calls him on his perceived crimes; if the ''Storm King'' had lost the election, he would be portrayed as a doddering senile old fool who carelessly called up storms that went wild and killed people. All of this would normally be a huge spoiler, but in a rare triumph over this trope Trent becomes ''King'' Trent at the end of the book, and he's a major character in most of the books thereafter.
80	* In ''Literature/TheLastDaysOfKrypton'', Zod paints Brainiac, Kandor's abductor, as this Silver Age CardCarryingVillain who does his thing ForTheEvulz, when the book portrayed him as a neutral alien who stated (To Zod, no less) that he had no further designs on Krypton besides stealing their capital to be preserved. Zod does this so he can use the threat of alien invasion as an excuse to build up his power base.
81	* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': The [[CorruptChurch ruling theocracy]] of Karse subjected the neighboring [[TheGoodKingdom kingdom]] of Valdemar and their [[ThePaladin incorruptible troubleshooters]] to this trope for literal centuries. Even a few years after a [[BoltOfDivineRetribution divinely endorsed]] coup d'etat [[HeelFaceTurn caused a massive adjustment of domestic policy]] and the pathologically aggressive new king of a third polity [[EnemyMine obliged a similar shift in diplomatic alignments]], the young secretary of an envoy is completely gobsmacked when the lamed veteran in a neat white uniform sent to escort them is offhandedly as identified a Herald and his beautiful [[SapientSteed almost-impossibly-well-trained]] [[CoolHorse mount]] turns out to be one of the White Demons of his childhood horror stories.
82	* In ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', Naofumi Iwatani is subjected to this during the first arcs, literally being called "The Devil of the Shield" by both the Melromarc Kingdom and the [[CorruptChurch Three Heroes' Church]], all due to religious bias, the [[BitchInSheepsClothing princess]]'s spiteful laying of a FalseRapeAccusation on him, and the [[EntitledBastard king]]'s personal hatred of him. He slowly lets his actions speak for himself, earning the respect of people around, and finally getting vindication when the queen personally clears his name.
83	* In ''Literature/RollOverAndDie'', the Church of Origin, the dominant religion, in collusion with the royalty, has spent over 50 years proclaiming that the nearby "demon" race are AlwaysChaoticEvil to the citizenry, starting from early childhood. The propaganda also includes several human towns reduced to ash with several convenient lone survivors who testify that demons are responsible for the carnage.
84	* ''Literature/TheSilerianTrilogy'': People such as Mirabar with red hair and or golden eyes are especially blessed by the GodOfFire Dar. However, [[TheSyndicate the Society]] has convinced people due to centuries of slander that they're demons. Because of this, they're shunned or worse in most places.
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
88	* An episode of ''Series/ForeverKnight'' had a flashback in which Hitler was portrayed as a man so full of evil that it made him [[EvenEvilHasStandards too evil to dare turn into a vampire]].
89	* Creator/TerryJones' documentary miniseries ''Medieval Lives'' discusses how Creator/GeoffreyChaucer partook in satire of the contemporary Church to such a level as to seem this. Chaucer had a problem with how the Church had become commercialized--and how did he go about voicing this? By penning a story positing that when friars die, they go to Hell ''and dwell in Satan's ass for all eternity.''
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Music]]
93	* Music/AliceCooper has a number of songs dealing with the topic of demonization (usually his own) including "No More Mister Nice Guy," "Go To Hell" and "Sex, Death and Money." These songs are actually from the point of view of {{moral guardians}}.
94	** As well, the song "Wicked Young Man" seems somewhat of a reaction to the demonization of music and video games in the wake of the Columbine massacre.
95	* Music/TheyMightBeGiants' "Youth Culture Killed My Dog" parodies this. "____ killed my dog" in general has become a common way to make fun of demonization.
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Radio]]
99	* ''Radio/OldHarrysGame:'' In-universe, the protagonist complains he has been unfairly maligned over the centuries. And he's Satan. If his testimony is to be believed, the rebellion against God wasn't a rebellion as ''such'', more an overreaction to a load of corporate-jargon about decreasing the Almighty's workload which just ''happened'' to leave Satan in charge of a lot. However, Satan is shown to be a somewhat petty and vindictive figure, just not as outright evil as the Bible claims, since it's a comedy program.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Religion]]
103	As a general rule, inter-religious conflict often ends with one or both faiths coming to view each other's deities, spirits or heroic figures as demonic entities. As such, quite a lot of demons began as a bygone faith's gods.
104	* The various Abrahamic faiths and their related religions have a long history of this:
105	** Zoroastrianism, an early pseudo-monotheistic religion[[note]]it technically recognized two uncreated deities that all other spirits were subordinate to, but only one, Ahura Mazda, was worshipped; Angra Mainyu was instead a monstrous, evil cosmic enemy[[/note]], arose among and displaced an older Indo-European polytheistic system in Iran related to what would later become Hinduism further east. As such, it uses the term "daeva" to refer to wicked spirits that sow chaos and disorder and which humans must oppose; not coincidentally, "deva" is the term for "divine being" in proto- and modern Hinduism. This term's influence is still common in modern Abrahamic religions; ''div'', an Islamic term for demons and evil spirits, derives from ''daeva'', while ''aešma-daeva'', "daeva of wrath", is very likely ancestral to "Ashmedai", an archaic form of "{{Asmodeus}}".
106	** Early Judaism existed in a state of periodic conflict with the religions of other Canaanite peoples, and a lot of the latter's deities were enshrined in scripture as demons or as the idols of evil people. Ba'al, the chief god of several religious systems, remains well-known as an archetypal false god. Additionally, since "Ba'al" simply meant "lord" and was often appended with various terms to signify what the deity was lord of, he was often mockingly referred to as [[{{Beelzebub}} "Ba'al Zebub", the Lord of Flies]].
107	** Moloch was a major patron deity for the Phoenicians, and is as such remembered for various failed attempts to introduce his worship into Israel. His scriptural descriptions as a terrible entity worshipped through child sacrifice ended up eclipsing most surviving historic records of his worship (although, notably, Greek and Roman historians ascribe fairly similar practices to the Phoenicians and their Carthaginian descendants -- but by the same token, the Romans also had a significant axe to grind where the Carthaginians were concerned).
108	** In late antiquity, a number of symbols of Greco-Roman polytheism, such as [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Poseidon's trident and Pan's horns and goat legs]], became iconic imagery for [[BigRedDevil the Devil Himself]].
109	** [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse lore]] was instead besieged with unflattering propaganda, such as the Literature/SorlisTale and the Literature/GestaDanorum. Ironically, the Nordic people's belief in TheFairFolk persisted even as the old ways waned. Presumably because it was hard to demonize things that were already evil and dangerous from the get-go.
110	** As the page image shows, Christianity is also no stranger to interfaith rivalry taking this tack. That's the ''Pope'' depicted as a demon.
111	%%** As [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Demonization.jpg this example image shows]], Christianity is also no stranger to interfaith rivalry taking this tack. That's the ''Pope'' depicted as a demon.
112	%% The image is linked here just in case a future Image Pickin' discussion decides to take the example image down.
113	* There was once believed to have been some evidence that the [[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 [[DatedHistory is now widely discredited]], however.
114	* Set from Myth/EgyptianMythology is primarily known today as an evil god, but, prior to 1st millennium BCE, he was much more amiable; as the top lieutenant of Ra during the latter's journey through Duat, he was the hero against the ''original'' evil god of Egyptian religion, Apep. His demonization came about because Set was the god of foreigners (as an extension of his domain of desert, since foreigners traditionally invaded Egypt through that terrain), and the aftermath of the Bronze Age collapse saw Egypt being ruled by foreigners for large stretches of time. While the Osiris myth far predated the event (it was probably the side effect of the unification of Egypt, as the cult of Set was displaced by the cult of Horus), Set was regarded as a mercurial god before the collapse, after which he was uniformly seen as evil.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
118	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' was subjected to this during the height of the SatanicPanic in the [=80s=] and early [=90s=], with Christian groups (most notably [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Jack Chick]] and Patricia Pulling, the founder of [[FunWithAcronyms Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons]]) claiming that the game encouraged witchcraft, satanism, suicide, and all sorts of other horrible things. It got to the point where Creator/{{TSR}} (the game's publisher at the time) removed demons, devils, and other monsters from the line (mostly by renaming them into tanar'ri and baatezu), stopped to call shamans "wicca" and funding studies to counter the claims.
119	* ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'': Sarlona, the origin of humanity, was always closest to the planes, and thus hosted the most [[EldritchLocation manifest zones and wild zones]]. Every nation was strongly affiliated with multiple planes, and many even had advisers native to those planes. When the Inspired were taking power, they convinced everyone that these extraplanar entities were demons and fiends pretending at benevolence, and used this to fan the flames and crush all opposition (the fact that some of them genuinely ''were'' fiends didn't help). The cruel irony, of course, is that the Inspired were controlled by the quori, demons from the realm of dreams, and they caused most of the problems that they so graciously solved.
120	* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'':
121	** The Realm's state-sanctioned faith, the Immaculate Order, demonizes Solar and Lunar Exalted as anathema. If allowed to exist, according to the Order, they will bring ruin to the world. This genocidal treatment of the celestial Exalted ''was'' brought about by the Great Curse corrupting the Solar and Lunar Exalted of the First Age, but declaring them anathema for all time might be a wee bit harsh.
122	** There's also a case of literal Demonization -- when the champions of the gods and humanity overthrew the alien Primordials, they branded the imprisoned titans as Yozis and named all their spiritual progeny demons.
123	* [=RPGs=], as explained on the Tabletop RPG section of CowboyBebopAtHisComputer, suffered this in Spain after two students killed a man in a bus stop with accusations -by clueless, sensationalistic, or both media- including that they basically transformed players into sociopaths unable to distinguish reality of fiction. That stigma lasts to this day, despite having been left clear those two did ''not'' play an RPG when they killed that man and studies that countered those claims.
124	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The Imperial Guardsman's Uplifting Primer has several examples of this intended to prove mankind's superiority over all alien races. Unfortunately, the information given is so woefully inaccurate (Ork teeth can easily be pulled out, Tau can only see you if you move, Eldar tech is outdated, and other ObviouslyEvil traits that are the complete opposite of what they're facing..) one suspects it was written by a Chaos cultist.
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Toys]]
128	* ''ComicBook/BeastWarsUprising:'' The chronologically last story in the series, a hidden coda, has a highly suspect historian called Hatchet trying to do an analysis on Lio Convoy, around ten thousand years after the fact, with demonization going on all around. Various members and activities of LaResistance are skewered, but Lio gets it worst of all. Not helping is that someone going by the name of Pontiff General Rampage swears up and down that Lio Convoy really was a horrible person, who among other crimes forcibly turned 'bots into suicide bombers. Hatchet comes to the conclusion that maybe the [[AbusivePrecursors Builders]] really did have to unleash a ZombieApocalypse against such a fiendish villain.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Video Games]]
132	* Because he abolished slavery, UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln in ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' has been demonized in Columbian propaganda (complete with horns) and John Wilkes Booth is depicted as a saint for assassinating him.
133	* Yew's journal entries for the [[SevenDeadlySins sin beasts]] in ''VideoGame/BravelySecond'' reference how some of them had characterization beyond "embodiment of sin" before they were subjected to this trope by the Crystal Orthodoxy, in a manner very similar to real-life religious doctrine, especially Christianity.
134	* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2019'' portrays Russians as evil, weak, cowardly, and stupid.
135	** The Russian military is portrayed as monsters who commit war crime after war crime. Evil Russians beating innocent civilians begging for mercy. Evil Russians forcing civilians to watch the public executions of their neighbors. Evil Russians executing unarmed and surrendering civilians en masse. Evil Russians attacking children with intent to kill. Evil Russians nonchalantly executing wounded civilians. Evil Russians torturing helpless and innocent prisoners. Even Nikolai, the one Russian character allied with the protagonists, shows no qualms in kidnapping an innocent woman and child so the protagonists can threaten to execute them in order to psychologically torture the child's father.
136	** The Russian participation in the conflict in Urzikstan is never shown with an ounce more nuance than "Evil invading Russians are massacring innocent Arabs for no other reason than insane paranoia or outright sadism." Despite the conflict being explicitly called a ''Civil'' War, not once do we ever see any actual 'Urzikstanic' natives fighting alongside or cooperating with the Russians. Additionally, the Russians are producing the chemical weapons which are the basis of the plot, which is portrayed as an act of irredeemable evil that automatically qualifies the perpetrator as a terrorist.
137	** Additionally, Russians are not only shown to be pure evil, but absurdly ''[[StupidEvil incompetent]]''. The only successes the Russians have in the story are against completely helpless civilians and children. This is seen most strikingly on a mission where the Russian military is defeated by a group of starving, abused teenage girls with zero combat training. We see this again at the end: in most Call of Duty games the campaign ends with a climatic struggle against an antagonist who is [[RankScalesWithAsskicking usually able to put up a fight]] and often expresses [[WorthyAdversary some reluctant respect for the protagonist.]] In ''Modern Warfare'', [[spoiler:Farah sneaks up behind the evil Russian general, stabs him, he grabs her and struggles with her a bit, she grabs the knife and stabs him some more while he begs and pleads for his life.]]
138	* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the sequel to ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', both explores this trope as part of the plot and unfortunately uses the trope in a meta sense. The plot of Dragon Age II revolves around the conflict between the Templars and Mages in Kirkwall, and the defensibility, or lack thereof, of a system known as the Circle, in which mages (who in the game's setting can potentially be possessed by demons or use "blood magic" to control other people's minds and bodies) are taken away from their families as small children and made to live their whole lives in the Circle, with Templars to watch over them 24/7, ostensibly to teach them how to control their magic and themselves so they aren't a danger to themselves and other people. Unfortunately, because the nature of the system assumes taking away people's human rights due to what they ''might'' do, most people who grew up with American ideals will naturally side with the mages, because giving the Templars that much power over other men is going to lead to Templars demonizing mages. And that is in fact exactly what happens: mages are feared and hated, and Templars treat ''all'' mages as though they ''must'' eventually snap and turn into demons and slaughter everyone. So, to give the player a reason to root for the Templars, the ''Dragon Age II'' developers went far out of their way to make the Templars look justified. The mages' primary advocate, Anders, is portrayed as someone who demonizes ''the Templars'' and is irrational and unreasonable due to being possessed by the spirit of Justice. Almost every mage the player meets is an insane blood mage, the First Enchanter turns out to [[spoiler: be aiding and abetting a serial killer because his use of magic would reflect badly on mages if revealed]], the Templars are given an advocate in Fenris the elf that never learns his lesson or is ever proven wrong and shifts the "burden of proof" onto the innocent rather than the guilty, and the other sympathetic mage character, Merrill, [[spoiler: accidentally makes a deal with a Pride Demon that results in the death of her Dalish clan's Keeper]]. So even as Dragon Age II tries to present both sides as having a point, since Dragon Age Origins players demonized the Templars while they were playing since the system is inherently open to abuse, the fact that the developers had to go this far out of their way to make the Templars have a point means that ''the mages'' were demonized, causing most players to side with the Templars since it looked like the Mages were all a bunch of lunatics and it looked like Anders had no good reason to complain or to object.
139	** As if to balance this, the developers did see fit to include a few Templars who do abuse their power and authority: Sers Alric, Mettin, and ultimately [[spoiler:Meredith]].
140	*** It would be far more accurate to say that the game crafted a conflict based on both sides having extreme "bad apples" in them to show the player that what the detractors of each side fear so much is real albeit not nearly as ubiquitous as those who demonize the opposition claim. There are more than enough instances where the Templars show their oppressive, prejudiced behavior. The game runs mostly on GrayAndGrayMorality where the only options are to pick your poison.
141	* The ''Franchise/FateSeries'' has the ''metaphorical'' demonization of [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade historical figures]] cause ''literal'' demonization with the “Innocent Monster” trait, with several spirits appearing as inhuman villains who may have no resemblance at all to the people they were in life, because that was what public opinion imagined them to be.
142	* In ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', after Oersted kills the king by mistake, he is blamed for several other deaths and denounced throughout the kingdom as a demon. This weighs heavily in his eventual decision to [[ThenLetMeBeEvil become an actual demon]].
143	* A well-popularized example: Back in the late nineties, there was some backlash against ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' by varying [[TheFundamentalist 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.
144	** ''Pokémon'', among tons of other "new media", are still treated this way by many fundamentalists.
145	** PETA's [[http://features.peta.org/pokemon-black-and-white-parody/ flash game]] takes this to a whole new level, especially as the organization has been sorta quiet for the last 15 years on the franchise.
146	* In ''VideoGame/{{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, saying, [[spoiler: "Is that really how I look in your mind?" and "[[ComicallyMissingThePoint I have a lot more hair than that!]]"]]
147	* Done in-game to Franchise/RatchetAndClank in ''VideoGame/RatchetDeadlocked'', although the audience isn't falling for it. This demonization reaches ImplausibleDeniability when kids clearly cheering for Ratchet are dubbed over on the show.
148	* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' has an InUniverse inversion, where [[VideoGame/SaintsRow2 Jessica]] is painted by one of the Saints' enemies as an innocent who got caught up in gang violence, conveniently leaving out how she was actually the girlfriend (and defacto second-in-command) of a rival gang leader and had subjected one of the Saints to a CruelAndUnusualDeath.
149	* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'' had this happen quite literally to several gods, turning them into demons; namely, Ahura Mazda (turned into Asura) and Ishtar (turned into Astaroth), by [[GodIsEvil YHVH]]. And in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'', [[spoiler: ''YHVH himself'' [[HoistByHisOwnPetard becomes the receiving end of this]] as everyone can demonize him as well.]]
150	* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKainSoulReaver2'' by Raziel. Raziel encounters a stained glass mural depicting Janos Audron and describes Janos' history, ending with:
151	-->'''Raziel:''' I wondered, could Janos Audron truly have been as monstrous as depicted here, or was this merely artistic license by the Sarafan, who sought to lionize themselves by demonizing their darkest enemy?
152	* The Melnorme and Druuge do this to each other in ''VideoGame/StarControl II: The Ur-Quan Masters''. Since each of them [[BlueAndOrangeMorality have their own moral compasses different from ours]] what they do and do not say when they demonize each other is a bit curious. For example, the Melnorme (who consider altruism ''highly'' despicable) are quite emotional about the Druuge "''giving'' away fuel" but make no mention of the fact that the Druuge are slavers. There's more than a bit of BoomerangBigot in play, on both sides--for example, the Druuge accuse the Melnorme's "rescue service" of being little more than piracy, but the Druuge consider any unarmed and unescorted vessel as derelicts free for the taking.
153	* ImpliedTrope in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}''. Most empires, when meeting alien lifeforms, will call them "[[GratuitousGreek Alpha/Beta/Delta/Gamma]] Aliens" until FirstContact is properly established. [[AbsoluteXenophobe Xenophobes]] will call them "[[GratuitousGreek Alpha/Beta/Delta/Gamma]] Menace" in a simple, subtle yet chilling way of PaintingTheMedium.
154	* Later in ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'', [[AntiHero Velvet]] begins to be known by the populace as the [[SheIsTheKing Lord]] Of Calamity. While she does many questionable things, has a bad attitude and is indeed a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Daemon]], she's not remotely as evil as the rumors and propaganda say. Ironically, information about her appearance got demonized and distorted to the point that people don't recognize her even when she's standing right beside them!
155	* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' contains many examples of this, although it's played much more low-key than usual examples of this trope, since the demonizations aren't brought up too often. But when they are, the Camarilla are a bunch of tyrannical snobs and elitist pricks who simply want to enslave all vampires according to their whims! The Anarchs are a bunch of children who hate responsibility and would love an excuse to go on a rampage! The Nosferatu are a bunch of ugly monsters! The Toreadors are a bunch of superficial snobs who love only beauty and have no other values at all! The Malkavians are all a bunch of insane whackjobs! The Ventrue are all snobs who sneer down their noses at everyone else! The Tremeres are secretive and untrustworthy and probably wish to enslave everyone! The Brujah are all shiftless and thuggish and the Gangrel are all mindless animals!
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Web Animation]]
159	* ''WebAnimation/UnbiasedHistory'': Done comedically, as narrator Dovahatty gives this treatment to many of the people, groups and institutions he personally dislikes, frequently making them out to be malevolent monsters with utterly evil goals and motives. For example, the Germanic peoples (who are often referred to as the "[[MaliciousMisnaming Germs]]" or "[[CensoredForComedy G*rms]]") are almost universally depicted as bloodthirsty savages who love slaughtering innocent people and are motivated by an IrrationalHatred of civilization.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Web Originals]]
163	* The ''Website/CollegeHumor'' video "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-_JhRJ0tWA If The Other Party Wins]]" uses this (as a spoof, of course, since it's a humor website) against both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party of the United States during the 2008 elections, from the other Party's perspective:
164	** If Obama wins (according to Republicans), [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack Mexico will take back the Southwestern US states]], [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica New England will become New Canada]], and weed will be grown everywhere. Also, American flags will be burned, students are rewarded for no achievements, terrorists and illegal immigrants will run rampant, medical care requires filling out a thousand forms, some students have had multiple abortions, and the family unit will break down into pansexual group marriages between pot-smoking hippies.
165	** If [=McCain=] wins (according to Democrats), the coastline will be submerged by global warming, [[OneNationUnderCopyright Wall-Mart gets its own country]], and the southern border is covered by an electric fence. Also, [[HeteronormativeCrusader homosexuals are sent to jail]], [[PatrioticFervor students are indoctrinated with patriotic jingoism]], there is no money in the school budget to provide ink for test papers, [[ChildSoldiers students get drafted to fight in overseas wars]], some students are pregnant, people are refused medical care because they're not covered, students fight each other with assault rifles in recess, the food is contaminated by oil spills, and [[BigBrotherIsWatching people are monitored permanently]].
166	* WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows does this in a tongue-in-cheek way to [[Music/{{Chicago}} Peter Cetera]], claiming that he's a war criminal, that he caused the stock market crash, and that he killed Todd's dog.
167	* [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]] relishes in doing this to the United States and Americans in general. If he so much as ''thinks'' Americans have anything to do with a game, he will spend a considerable amount of time demonizing them. This was aptly demonstrated in his ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}} 3'' review, which included a lot of bile levied at Americans despite ''Killzone's'' [[Creator/GuerrillaGames creators]] being Dutch. Yahtzee attempted to dismiss people calling him on this by claiming that Americans were the game's target audience.
168	* ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' and its star and creator Creator/DougWalker have recently gone on long, very hateful speeches about Creator/MichaelBay that comes off as very off putting. It's gotten so bad that even people that don't like Michael Bay or the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' have began to find it uncomfortable and rather hypocritical seeing as how he insulted anyone who likes the fourth film ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction'', breaking his stance against fan hating.
169	[[/folder]]
170
171	[[folder:Western Animation]]
172	* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' has UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's ''very [[DeathGlare gaze]]'' be as bad as pollution on Captain Planet. A big problem with the series is that the villains are into polluting [[ForTheEvulz for no good reason]] (or for money), which implies that anyone who pollutes is just a plain villain instead of someone making a mistake -- even a big one. Ironically the Eco-Villains were made to be over-the-top {{Card Carrying Villain}}s in an attempt to ''avoid'' demonizing normal people who were just doing their jobs, as the creators were trying to avoid kids getting into major drama with their parents if they weren't so different from grayer {{Punch Clock Villain}}s.
173	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' is open to demonizing and attacking [[EqualOpportunityOffender just about everyone]].
174	** For example, the show's depicted environmentalists as AxCrazy. Not just [[EcoTerrorist eco-terrorists]] -- ''all'' environmentalists.
175	** The episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS12E4CanadaOnStrike Canada on Strike]]" implies that people were starving to death during the 2008 [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes Writers Strike]].
176	** ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' demonizes MoralGuardians, both figuratively ''and'' literally. Not only does the show draw parallels in their behavior with that of Nazi Germany, but their habit of raising Hell over small issues ends up ''summoning Satan''. Heck, some may say that this show is the TropeCodifier for how they are portrayed in modern media.
177	** "[[Recap/SouthParkS7E13ButtOut Butt Out]]" casts the anti-smoking movement as being comprised of Gollum-like sub-humans led by Creator/RobReiner who plan to kill Cartman to further their campaign against Big Tobacco, whereas the local tobacco company itself is treated quite fairly and realistically, acknowledging the health risks of smoking but also that it's one's own choice to do so and no one forces them. With all that said, apparently the point of the episode wasn't to be pro-smoking -- it's because Parker and Stone just think Rob Reiner is an ass. The demonization is played for laughs in any case.
178	* In the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheEmberIslandPlayers The Ember Island Players]]", the heroes watch ''The Boy in the Iceberg'', a play about their adventures, written by Pu-On Tim and performed by the titular Ember Island Players. It turns out to be a Fire Nation PropagandaPiece, and gives all the heroes this treatment (with the villains being given [[DracoInLeatherPants leather pants]]).
179	** Aang doesn't get this as bad as the rest, but pretty much all of his responsibility was stripped away, and he was portrayed as an immature prankster (he's also [[CrosscastRole played by a woman]]).
180	** Katara is turned into a melodramatic crybaby with no fighting ability and no objection to Jet destroying a town for her (which was what caused the real Katara to turn on Jet).
181	** Sokka becomes a dumb water tribe hick who is [[BigEater always hungry]] and [[ObsessedWithFood keeps telling bad jokes about food]].
182	** Zuko... well, they just [[CharacterExaggeration exaggerate what is already there]]. The play's Zuko is even more of an EmoTeen than the real deal.
183	** Iroh becomes a [[TheHedonist hedonistic]] FatBastard with none of the real Iroh's kindness or spirituality.
184	** Toph is depicted as a very large man... but the real Toph [[ActuallyPrettyFunny just thinks it's funny]].
185	* In the first ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' ChristmasEpisode, the title character watches a "recreation" of Porkchop's supposed attack on Beebe Bluff, which is depicted as a snarling bulldog throttling a girl around. This is the point where Doug realizes things have went ''way'' too far.
186	* In ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', 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, [[{{Flanderization}} 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.
187	* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', 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.
188	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
189	** {{Exaggerated\|Trope}} in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E5SideshowBobRoberts Sideshow Bob Roberts]]", which depicts the Springfield Republican Party as zealots who hold meetings (prefaced by a round of OminousLatinChanting) in an ominous castle straight out of a Film/HammerHorror film, and who at one point confuse a water cooler with their mayoral candidate.
190	** Later, the show takes a potshot at the Democrats, who are portrayed as a bunch of liberal stereotypes who are so ineffectual and poor that they have to hold their meetings in a random smoothie shop over lunch.
191	** Also used in-universe in the same episode: when the Democratic Mayor Quimby gets very sweaty during a televised debate, his soaked hair looks like [[ObviouslyEvil devil horns]]. The TV studio helpfully adds a circle of hellish flames around him when airing.
192	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E9HomerBadman Homer Badman]]" with the TV movie ''Homer S.: Portrait of an Ass-Grabber'', Homer, played by Dennis Franz, is portrayed as a [[EvilLaugh cackling]], [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] pervert.
193	--->'''Ashley:''' No, Mr. Simpson! A cat is a living creature!\
194	'''Homer:''' I don't care! ''[runs over cat]'' Now I'm gonna grab me some sweet!\
195	'''Ashley:''' No, Mr. Simpson, that's sexual harassment! If you do, I'll scream so loud the whole country will hear!\
196	'''Homer:''' Heh, with a '''MAN''' in the White House?! Not likely! Muah ha. Muah haha. MUAH HA HA HAAAAAA!
197	* {{Deconstruction}} InUniverse in ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'': Evil Queen Vexus of Cluster Prime has lied to her own robot people about Earth's defender, RobotGirl [=XJ9=], presenting her like an AlwaysChaoticEvil, [[BeautyEqualsGoodness horrible monster]] 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, [[TheHero heroic robot who wants to help and protect others]] that she is. This is Queen Vexus' downfall. There is also an earlier incident in the same special where the policemen who find her argue because only one of them realizes who she is, the others not seeing it because she looks nothing like the propaganda.
198	* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'':
199	** In general, since the show operates from a RuleOfFunny premise of "kids vs. adults", obviously "adults in general" are also demonized. They're either completely useless, or demonic monsters of some kind, or they're crazy whack-jobs, or they do things to make kids suffer for the sheer kicks of it.
200	** The episode "[[Recap/CodenameKidsNextDoorS5E3AOperationBULLIES Operation: B.U.L.L.I.E.S.]]" depicts bullies as giant dinosaur-like creatures with names like Spitballosaurus and Wedgiesaurus Rex.
201	* Megatron in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' does this for [[spoiler: an amnesic Optimus/Orion]], saying that Ratchet was the BigBad and that the reason the Autobots call them "Decepticons" was as a form of Autobot propaganda.
202	* Similar to the ''Teenage Robot'' example above, ''WesternAnimation/HortonHearsAWho1970'' has the Sour Kangaroo tell everyone that Horton's sayings about the speck will lead to anarchy and gets everyone to cage him and destroy the speck. When Horton's words turn out to be true and the speck is saved, the Kangaroo gets shunned and hated.
203	* Aku ''tries'' to attack WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack this way, by gathering children and telling them fairy tales where he's the hero and Jack is the bad guy. It doesn't work, but it made for some of the best moments on the show.
204	* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[spoiler:Pink Diamond did this to ''herself'']] by telling stories portraying Pink Diamond as a merciless and cold-hearted tyrant who would laugh emptily when Rose Quartz begged her to spare humanity. Garnet would later continue this in "Your Mother and Mine" describing Pink Diamond as a DirtyCoward who begged Blue and Yellow Diamond for help because she was so afraid of Rose Quartz.
205	* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': The Horde, being reimagined as a fascist-like army where recruits are ObliviouslyEvil indoctrinated ChildSoldiers, resort to this, teaching their Cadets that princesses are AxeCrazy monsters with destructive powers they barely control, complete with depicting them as wraith-like figures with a SlasherSmile during training sessions. This propaganda is so effective Adora actually is horrified upon her first transformation into She-Ra, seeing it as a case of TomatoInTheMirror.
206	-->'''Adora:''' I didn't know [[ViralTransformation being a princess was contagious]]!
207	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'': The title characters were '''always''' treated by the media as someone Earth needed protection ''from'' not as the protectors of New York that they actually were. It doesn't matter how much April O'Neil presented coverage, live or unedited, that they were genuine heroes, talk shows and other forms of the press would always be quick to jump on them as a menace on the flimsiest of hearsay, rumors, or stuff they pulled out of their own ass. Just for ratings.
208	[[/folder]]

Context Main / Demonization