History Main / Demonization

Originantes in ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin -- the practice in some religious movements to portray deities of competing, especially much older, religions as demons, to try and steal people over from those by claiming that they are currently worshipping "false gods".

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.

* 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.
* ''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]].
* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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!"

* 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.

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