History Main / KillThePoor

* In ''Manga/{{Kaiji}}'', the contestants for the DeadlyGame are drawn from the lowest dregs of society, people who are deeply in debt whether through circumstances beyond their control or through their own poor judgment. Then they are coerced to participate in the games for a money prize that will solve their financial problems if they survive that long ''and'' beat out the competition, all for the amusement of a collection of insanely rich clients and {{yakuza}}. The KillerGameMaster justifies this by asserting that he and the other "[[PrivilegeMakesYouEvil elites]]" had to spend decades of their lives working hard to accumulate the wealth they're offering up, [[MoralMyopia so it's only fair the contestants offer up their lives as well]].

* ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'': When told that half the people on the ship are going to die, which will primarily consist of third-class passengers, Cal says that it won't be the better half that perishes. In fact, keeping the third class passengers waiting behind locked doors to drown while the wealthy passengers are placed on lightly-occupied rescue boats is even more reminiscent of this (the poor [[ArtisticLicenseHistory weren't actually locked in]] on the real ship, although they still suffered a higher death rate than the rich, who got places in the lifeboats before the rest).

** Slaughtering homeless people on large scales happens so frequently that the culprits [[LanguageEqualsThought have their own nickname]]: "house cleaners."
** The rich and completely insane killer in the episode "Legacy" believed he was doing the world a favor by exterminating street people, who he viewed as completely subhuman garbage, tainting everything they touch. When the detective who watches over the part of the city the killer gets his victims from is actually rewarded due to the lower crime rate, despite the detective trying to bring attention to the fact that all these people are missing, the killer is insulted and sends him a letter saying he should be ashamed for stealing the credit for other people's work. At the end, when the killer is surrounded by the police just as he is about to murder someone else, he actually screams "Let me do my job!" before being shot.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' had a TimeTravel episode where Sisko, Bashir, and Dax accidentally travel back to Earth [[TwentyMinutesInTheFuture Twenty Minutes into Our Future]]. Sisko and Bashir are assumed to be homeless by the police who find them, and they are sent to a "sanctuary district" (i.e. walled-off ghetto) for the indigent. The government of the time claims that it's a progressive measure to help the less fortunate, but Sisko points out that it's really just a way to sweep the poor under the rug so other people don't have to think about them. While people there are supposed to be helped, the system is unable to help them all, with the weak preyed on by strong ones (usually criminals who'd been swept up with the rest).

* The title character in ''Comicbook/NikolaiDante'' once encountered a countess heavily based on the legends of Elizabeth Bathory who insists that [[BloodBath the blood she bathes in]] is "happily donated" by young women in return for tax exemptions. After Dante uncovers a secret lair belonging to the countess in which dozens of young women are being held in captivity and bled for all their worth, it turns out that these particular women are all unemployed and, therefore, couldn't pay any taxes so they get drained wholesale.

* A ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' sketch had the mayor of a town addressing the press to reveal his new plan for dealing with the poor. He would give them all virtual reality helmets that would show them everything they ever wanted, allowing them to live out their lives in peace. The test subject they put one on sees a beautiful woman in the distance, holding a steak dinner and a bottle of booze. He runs towards her, which leads him into traffic where he is killed by an oncoming truck. It concludes with the mayor declaring "And that's how we'll eliminate the homeless ... problem."

* A ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} Warhammer 40K]]'' example found in the ''Videogame/DawnOfWar'' expansion ''Soulstorm'', which has background fluff stating that this is official policy on Kaurava. A regular purge of "undesirables", including the poor, is done every century to ensure the city-planet doesn't have too much trouble functioning.

* A ''WebComic/{{Bug|Martini}}'' strip depicts a bug politician demanding someone end poverty without resorting to evil after he's told that he can't end it by killing homeless people.

When someone takes UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson's "War on Poverty" a bit ''too'' literally and fights poverty with the most dubious and immoral methods imaginable. Instead of seeking to [[NoPoverty eliminate poverty]] by educating and supporting the impoverished so they can attain a greater quality of life and income, some believe it would be easier to just perform [[LeaveNoSurvivors mass executions of everyone without enough money]].

On the plus side, this approach would have [[MetaphoricallyTrue a whopping 100% success rate]]. On the other hand, it's extremely unethical, and also counter-productive to economic success. If a job doesn't pay enough to get someone out of poverty, and you kill the person working it... now nobody is doing that job, which hurts the economy. Or somebody else takes that job, but they don't make enough money to escape poverty either, so they get targeted too. If enough people are killed, you might not be able to run your economy at all. (Some examples of this trope involve only the unemployed being targeted, presumably as a way to justify why the society hasn't collapsed yet, but that still wouldn't benefit the economy.)

Less lethal alternatives may involve poverty being made illegal and poor people being treated as criminals; this may involve forcing them into slave labor or a similar venture so that they can be "put to better use". This has some historical precedence with things like the workhouse system in 1800s Britain, but fiction will usually take it to even more horrifying extents.

In either case, such positions are usually rife with socio-political and -economic {{Satire}} and [[RuleOfSymbolism Symbolism]], exaggerating how {{Upper Class Twit}}s and other wealthy elites both ''want'' to view the lower classes and, more cynically, how they may ''actually'' view such groups. In this fashion, the concept could be used as a form of BlackComedy. To other extents, this could involve a character crossing the MoralEventHorizon and establishing themself as a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain. In hyperbolic, satirical cases, it might lead to a HighClassCannibal.

When someone takes UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson's "War on Poverty" a bit ''too'' {{literal|Minded}}ly and fights poverty by implementing the most dubious and immoral methods imaginable.

Instead of seeking to [[NoPoverty eliminate poverty]] by educating and supporting poor individuals and families so they can attain a greater quality of life and income, some believe it would be easier to just eliminate the poor through mass execution. On the plus side, this approach would have [[MetaphoricallyTrue a whopping 100% success rate]]. On the other hand, it's extremely unethical and counter-productive to having a more prosperous, or even a viable economy.

Less lethal alternatives may involve social leaders suggesting to make poverty illegal and see to it that all poor people are treated as criminals under the eyes of the law; this may involve the poor being forced into slave labor or a similar venture so that they can be put to "better use".

In either case, such positions are usually rife with sociopolitical and socioeconomic {{Satire}} and [[RuleOfSymbolism Symbolism]], exaggerating how {{Upper Class Twit}}s and other wealthy elites both ''want'' to view the poor and lower classes and, more cynically, how they may ''actually'' view such groups; in this fashion, the concept could be used as a form of BlackComedy or establish a CosyCatastrophe. To other extents, this could involve a character crossing the MoralEventHorizon and establishing oneself as a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain. In hyperbolic, satirical cases, it might lead to a HighClassCannibal.

Compare DisposableVagrant, for the murders and vicious exploitation of impoverished people on a smaller or more discreet scale ForScience and other personal motivations.

* A ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} Warhammer 40K]]'' example found in the ''Videogame/DawnOfWar'' expansion ''Soulstorm'' has background fluff stating that this is official policy for the Imperium on Kaurava. A regular purge of mutants, heretics, degenerates, poor, etc. every century is done to ensure smooth function of the city-planet so it doesn't get too gummed up by undesirables.

* In the episode "The Masquerade" of ''[[LetsPlay/DreamSMP Tales From the SMP]]'', even among a CastFullOfRichPeople, a majority of whom [[SlobsVersusSnobs hold disdain towards the poor]], [[AristocratsAreEvil Sir Billiam]] takes the cake by inviting his guests to a masquerade party in order to [[spoiler:feed them to [[BotanicalAbomination The Egg]]]], and justifies the attendees' deaths by calling them only "upper middle class", implying that he believes that death is an effective way to deal with the poor. [[spoiler:He then orders [[FieldTripToThePast Karl's]] death, explaining that January means Karl's revenue as a Minecraft streamer is very low, despite previously allowing his attendance because he considered streaming a profitable career.]]

'''Other scammer #1''': In self-defense?\\

* In ''Film/AmericanPsycho'', sadistic SerialKiller Patrick Bateman feels nothing but ill will and contempt for the lower classes. After he sends many mixed signals to one homeless man he meets -- from pulling out his wallet and flipping through the money he has to berating him to get a job -- Patrick stabs the homeless man to death after he praised Patrick for being "so kind." In his confession to his lawyer over the phone, Bateman claims to have killed "maybe five or ten" homeless people altogether.

* ''Manga/GalaxyExpress999'' takes place in a CrapsackWorld where rich nobles who have swapped their bodies for mechanized bodies are free to hunt poor humans for sport. (This was how the main character Tetsuro's mother died. She was even stuffed and mounted on a wall.)
* A flashback in ''Manga/OnePiece'' shows Luffy's home island is [[UrbanSegregation half palaces of the rich]], [[DownInTheDumps half dumping ground where everyone else lives]]. In an effort to "clean things up" before a visit of the [[AristocratsAreEvil World Nobles]], the local nobles set their other half on fire.

* In ''Manga/CountCain'', [[spoiler:Lord Gladstone]], the high priest of the organisation Delilah, [[VillainWithGoodPublicity presents himself as a philanthropist]] but [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain secretly hates the poor]], and orchestrates a large-scale bombing of the public opening of the Crimone Gardens, resulting in a huge death toll. While the deed is intended as a mass HumanSacrifice, he seems particularly happy that most of the victims were working-class.
* The spirit of the trope is present in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' after the breach of Wall Maria. The amount of refugees means that there's not enough resources to maintain them all. The government organized an operation to "reclaim" Wall Maria and sent hundreds of thousands of refugees (including Armin's grandfather) so they would be devoured by the Titans and thus have fewer mouths to feed.

* ''ComicBook/TheMighty'' showed [[spoiler:Alpha One]] suggesting to his fellow members of Congress a way of helping his planet that involves killing most of the degenerates. They didn't approve.
* In ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', the homeless are rounded up and placed in death camps along with other "undesirables."

* In ''ComicBook/ArchieVsPredator'', when the Riverdale gang sees a shooting star (in actuality the Predator's ship landing), there is a montage of most of the kids making wishes. Cheryl Blossom wished for "Death to the Proletariat."

* The Danish dystopic comedy ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478365/ Hvordan Vi Slipper Af Med De Andre]]'' ("How We'll Get Rid Of The Others"). 'The Others,' in this case, refers to the leeches of society--those who cost more than they pay in taxes, like habitual criminals, people on benefit, and just generally anyone who doesn't pay enough taxes. It's basically about a near-future dystopia where the government decides to get rid of these people by summary execution in order to balance the budget.
* The Mexican film ''Un Mundo Maravilloso'' ends with the Minister of Economy declaring poverty illegal so all social services are stopped altogether, the poor are simply written off from all official statistics and all the impoverished people are isolated in concentration camps to fend for themselves. [[StrawCharacter He wins the Nobel Prize in Economics for this]].

* ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'': When told that half the people on the ship are going to die, which will primarily consist of third-class passengers, Cal says that it won't be the better half that perishes. In fact, keeping the third class passengers waiting behind locked doors to drown while the wealthy passengers are placed on lightly-occupied rescue boats is even more reminiscent of this (the poor [[ArtisticLicenseHistory weren't actually locked in]] on the real ship, although they still suffered a higher death rate than the rich, who got places in the lifeboats before the rest).

* In the film version of ''Film/TheRunningMan'', Richards tries to stop his platoon from firing on a group of housewives in the middle of a riot brought on by starvation. Both this version and the novel treat the trope as the reason for the deadly game shows.
* The "lifetime as currency" system in ''Film/InTime'' is ostensibly a form of PopulationControl. In practice, it kills people from the lower classes at a young age so they don't outlive their usefulness while granting the wealthy ageless immortality.
* ''Film/{{Society}}'': In the climax, the upper class literally consume a member of the lower class by assimilating his body mass.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Robocop}}'' series, OCP's devised plan is to level most of Detroit and build the new Delta City by using increasingly unscrupulous methods to push the agenda. By ''Film/RoboCop3'', the Rehab officers are [[StateSec paramilitary mercenary cops]] that have free rein to harass, threaten, imprison and execute the people of Detroit as they see fit. All their attention is focused on the poor and destitute that are "holding back progress." In the end, the Detroit PD resigns en masse and joins with the people stuck in the slums while the Rehab forces enlist several street gangs in a city-wide war.

* ''Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace'' (both play and film): the Brewster aunts are an elderly SerialKiller pair that invites homeless people to their home and serve them poisoned wine, and their son buries them in the basement. An unusual variant in that they are all insane and the old women sincerely think that doing this is ''[[MercyKill an act of kindness]]'', while the son (who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt) doesn't really know better.
* ''Film/{{Circle}}'': The [[NoNameGiven Rich Banker]] suggests picking off people based on their "societal contribution" and goes on a rant against people on welfare, which just ends up painting a target on his own back. [[spoiler:He survives several ties, but is finally eliminated when he tries to get the Little Girl killed.]]
* ''Film/Venom2018''[='s=] main antagonist Carlton Drake, head of the scientific research company Life Foundation, orders homeless people as the test subjects for his experiments. The homeless are bribed with money to sign waivers and documents, and since they have no ties to the community no one would ever notice they were missing thus preserving the company's image. Afterwards, the homeless were locked in cages and used as hosts for the Symbiote aliens who would either drive them crazy or devour their internal major organs, killing them.
* In ''Film/TheThinning'', the United Nations passes a PopulationControl law on the world, with obviously brutal results, and America's purge consists of killing anyone who doesn't do well in school. Seeing as how wealth enables rich kids to hire private tutors, this doesn't target genuinely stupid people nearly as much as it does the poor. [[spoiler: To make things worse, the purge secretly ignores intelligence and targets people with a rebellious streak or those who pissed the high class off, and instead of killing the children, they're forced into secret slave labor.]]

* Creator/JonathanSwift's satirical ''Literature/AModestProposal'' encourages poor parents to sell their own [[EatsBabies babies]] and children [[ImAHumanitarian to be eaten as a delicacy by the rich]] so that they can have a means of receiving an income with which to rise above the lower class and not have to be burdened by having to raise kids while struggling with poverty, as a parody of prejudice toward the Irish, plus the often crackpot "reforms" then proposed for poverty.
* Although he doesn't advocate outright killing the poor, in Creator/CharlesDickens' ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' Ebenezer Scrooge ''does'' advocate the poor offing ''themselves'', which [[IronicEcho later comes back to bite him]] during the Christmas Present sequence. This is a TakeThat towards Thomas Malthus, who notoriously predicted that [[OverpopulationCrisis population would soon outstrip resources]] and advocated letting the poor starve to help solve this problem.
-->'''Solicitor for the Poor:''' Many would rather die than go there [to prison or to a workhouse].
-->'''Scrooge:''' If they would rather die, then they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.
* In ''[[http://www.ansible.co.uk/books/3mill.html The Third Millennium]]'' (a fictional history book supposedly written in the early 3000's), the "Age of Crisis" ended in 2180 with the death of "The Lost Billion," over 1 billion missing persons between 2000 and 2180 that were never found; most were poor. The authors imply that their deaths ended up saving the world, not because they were poor but because they lacked either the will or the ability to give up their old ways of life and find new ones, and thus were the last remaining force holding humanity back from the world of the future.

* In ''Literature/{{Germinal}}'', as Étienne becomes more "educated" and more disgusted with the poverty surrounding him, he begins to harbor this sentiment.

* The book ''Stone Cold'' is about a serial killer who, after being kicked out of the Army, lures homeless people to his flat and murders them. He does it because he believes that they are "polluting" the country.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** It's mentioned offhandedly that [[TheCaligula Joffrey's]] proposed solution to beggars and starving poor people in King's Landing is to kill them. He at one point brings a crossbow to the castle walls and [[KickTheDog starts shooting at the people outside the gates begging for food]].
** [[TheStarscream Roose Bolton]] gets dozens of squatters to help rebuild Winterfell. Once they're done [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he has them all hanged]] (at least he didn't [[CruelAndUnusualDeath flay them alive]], as per his House's tradition).
** Cersei has more than a touch of this going on: from going after both Robert's bastards and their mothers whenever possible (which means the smallfolk first, because they're an easy target -- Edric Storm and his mother not-so-much since they've got Houses Florent ''and'' Baratheon in their corner) to disappearing the easily disappeared into the Black Cells when they start getting... inconvenient to her. That she considers [[ImpoverishedPatrician fallen-on-hard-times lords and ladies]] to be as disposable as any landless knight, WanderingMinstrel or prostitute should be a warning. [[spoiler: And, that's not including the open season she has declared on anybody who happens to 1) be vaguely male and 2) a dwarf (or similar). Apparently, any and all the collateral damage on two continents is well worth eventually getting her brother killed.]]
* ''Literature/FuturetrackFive'' by Creator/RobertWestall turns out to be about this. It's what [[spoiler: Scott-Astbury]] was really up to--deliberately trying to wipe out the working class and replace them with a selectively bred version who would be more respectful to their "rightful masters".
* In Robert Southey's poem "God's Judgment on a Wicked Bishop" (based on the legend of Bishop Hatto, below) a greedy bishop refuses to share his food stocks with famished people and, fed up with their pleas, invites them to a huge barn for a feast, and then burns them all alive. [[spoiler: He is then eaten by a pack of rats.]]

* Creator/MarquisDeSade had some of his characters muse on doing this, including possibly the first modern proposal of bioterrorism, since one says they should deliberately spread plague in poor areas. Others propose burning poorhouses and charity hospitals, along with using the poor in lethal medical experimentation. At least [[https://www.academia.edu/37697403/An_Unblinking_Gaze_On_the_Philosophy_of_the_Marquis_de_Sade_PhD_thesis_in_philosophy_ one author]] has seen a parallel with the later acts and philosophy of the Nazis, as his characters justify this in similar ways (although there were differences as well). The people whom they abduct, rape, torture, and then kill are also usually poor ([[WouldHurtAChild often children]]) because [[PragmaticVillainy that they're more vulnerable]].

--> Like ''[[GratuitousSpanish mis hermanos]]'' The Music/DeadKennedys say, "Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor!"

* In the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E21TheCloudMinders The Cloud Minders]]," on the planet Ardana, the poor are enslaved and forced to live out their entire lives in underground mines.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' has this Creator/JohnCleese vox pop:
-->'''Cleese:''' Well I think they should attack the lower classes, first with bombs and rockets to destroy their homes, and then when they run helplessly into the streets, mowing them down with machine guns. And then, of course, releasing the vultures. I know these views aren't popular, but I have never courted popularity.
* A ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch referenced this. It was about the cheerful hosts of a morning news show who start having breakdowns on the air when their teleprompter breaks. Trying to improvise, Creator/WillFerrell's character says that someone should get a bunch of guns to "sweep out those ghettos." Cut to commercial.
* An annual cull of the poor was one of Tim's policies when running for Prime Minister on ''Series/TheGoodies''.

* ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owI7DOeO_yg a sketch all about this]] where the Prime Minister, in a meeting about Britain's economic problems, asks if his aides have done an analysis on the effects of killing all the poor. When they protest that the country would never do such a thing, he gets offended, pointing out that he'd never said they ''would'' do it, he just wanted to make sure they'd looked at all the options (the analysis shows it wouldn't help). He does want to round up all the dwarves, though...
* The actions taken by the British government in ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' verge on this. [[spoiler: When aliens require 10% of the children of the world, the government eventually decides to take that 10% from the most impoverished sections of society. One politician in particular implies that, given the world's overpopulation in general, this may not be a bad thing at all in the long run.]]
* In ''Series/LoisAndClark'', the homeless are shown to be immune to President Tempus' telephone-linked subliminal messaging, by virtue that none of them own a phone. In response, Tempus passes legislation making it illegal ''not'' to use the phone, then lines the homeless up before a [[ShotAtDawn firing squad]].
* A ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' sketch had the mayor of a town addressing the press to reveal his new plan for dealing with the poor. He would give them all virtual reality helmets that would show them everything they ever wanted, allowing them to live out their lives in peace. The test subject they put one on sees a beautiful woman in the distance, holding a steak dinner and a bottle of booze. He runs towards her, which leads him into traffic where he is killed by an oncoming truck. It concludes with the mayor declaring "And that's how we'll eliminate the homeless ... problem."

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' had a TimeTravel episode where Sisko, Bashir, and Dax accidentally travel back to Earth [[TwentyMinutesInTheFuture Twenty Minutes into Our Future]]. Sisko and Bashir are assumed to be homeless by the police who find them, and they are sent to a "sanctuary district" (i.e. walled-off ghetto) for the indigent. The government of the time claims that it's a progressive measure to help the less fortunate, but Sisko points out that it's really just a way to sweep the poor under the rug so other people don't have to think about them. While people there are supposed to be helped, the system is unable to help them all, with the weak preyed on by strong ones (usually criminals who'd been swept up with the rest).

* Zigzagged with Tempest, the villainous organization of wealthy individuals from the first season of ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Their plans to level the Glades, the low-income/ghettoized area of Star City, seem to be classic Kill The Poor behavior... but, towards the season's end, their motivations are revealed to stem from disgust (often due to personal tragedy) at the Glades' large population of criminals and ApatheticCitizens even despite more conventional philanthropic efforts at helping the residents. So, they still want to Kill The Poor, but it's because they believe the Glades form a WretchedHive sub-region of the city rather than just for being poor.

* Music/FairportConvention's "Genesis Hall", from the 1969 album Music/{{Unhalfbricking}}
--> ''You take away homes from the homeless''
--> ''And leave them to die in the cold''

* Cartoonist Mike Peters (''ComicStrip/MotherGooseAndGrimm'') does editorial cartoons as well. One showed UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan declaring that he's "going to see to it that the poor are cared for… that they are warm and secure, clothed and sheltered, and all their needs are taken care of..." Then he picks up the phone and orders "BUILD MORE PRISONS."

* One adventure in the ''TabletopGame/{{Zeitgeist}}'' adventure path has a final boss who runs on this. [[spoiler: A symposium of world leaders ends up forming a psychic gestalt called a "Godmind" which is obsessed with eliminating those with little or nothing to contribute economically. Left to its own devices, it will flatten all but the richest parts of the city with an EnergyWeapon, culminating in [[KicktheDog smashing an orphanage]].]]

* In the ''Waterdeep: Dragon Heist'' adventure for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 5th edition, the noble Cassalanter family plans to hold a magnificent feast for 100 of Waterdeep's poorest. [[spoiler: The food and drink will be laced with Midnight Tears, and the whole scheme is a plot to sacrifice 99 souls to Asmodeus so the Cassalanters won't have to sacrifice their own children.]]
* In the 5th edition rewrite for ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'', Jacqueline Renier is reimainged as a noble woman who uses plagues she cooks up in her laboratory as a way to keep control over the population; The burgeoning middle class were starting to challenge the nobles, but if the nation is stuck under a constant plague, Jacqueline can maintain martial law forever.

* This turns out to essentially be [[spoiler:Ultor's big plan to improve Stilwater]] in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2''. Only that [[spoiler:the Saints beat them to it by actually [[MoralEventHorizon killing them]].]] Mind you, the Saints are the [[VillainProtagonist player]] controlled gang.
* Present in Lucian's backstory in ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile''. Lucian was part of a band of thieves that [[JustLikeRobinHood steals for the poor]]. Consequently, soldiers were sent to kill not only the thieves but also the rest of the slum's dwellers.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Prototype 2}}'', one side mission centers on learning about and destroying Project New Templar, which turns out to be a plot to create a virus that specifically targets the lower classes, "especially immigrants".

* A ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} Warhammer 40K]]'' example found in the ''Videogame/DawnOfWar'' expansion ''Soulstorm'' has background fluff stating that this is official policy for the Imperium on Kaurava. A regular purge of mutants, heretics, degenerates, poor, etc. every century is done to ensure smooth function of the city-planet so it doesn't get too gummed up by undesirables.

* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'' combines this trope with IndustrializedEvil. [[spoiler:Mandus]] has used the Machine to [[spoiler: slaughter the homeless and orphans, and process their meat.]] Eventually, however, [[spoiler:he comes to [[EatTheRich do the same to the rich]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Armello}}'', the background for DLC character Twiss involves the King deciding to purge the thieves guild in the capital by killing ''all'' of the slum dwellers.
* In ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'' Episode 2, the Children of Arkham hijack the Gotham mayoral debate and inject both candidates with a drug that eliminates their inhibitions and acts like a form of TruthSerum, which causes Mayor Hill to advocate [[KillItWithFire incinerating]] the poor (among other things).
* In ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', this is part of the plot by the Majestic 12. Using a nanite chimera virus [[SyntheticPlague "Grey Death"]] to infect the world's population, but only providing treatment to the rich and powerful.

* ''VideoGame/ToothAndTail''

* In ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'', Zexion carried this out as governor. Axel's only problem with the plan was that Red XIII kept eating too much of the bodies to get them identified as poor people and keeping him from getting paid the proper amount per person.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kswVKMUu66w This video]] by ''WebVideo/{{Jreg}}'' where he vaguely hints to his solution to homelessness until he finally says it.

* ''Website/TheOnion'', in the wake of stories of Hurricane Isaac threatening to hit Tampa, FL at the time of the 2012 Republican Party Convention, ran an article titled, [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/rnc-builds-levee-out-of-poor-people-to-protect-con,29337/ "RNC Builds Levee Out Of Poor People To Protect Convention Site"]]
** In their book, ''Our Dumb Century'', it features an article titled "Reagan proposes orbiting homeless-incineration ray", parodying the SDI project.
** There's also this article, in which "[[http://www.theonion.com/articles/bloodsoaked-mayor-bloomberg-announces-homelessness,34224/ Blood-Soaked Mayor Bloomberg Announces Homelessness No Longer A Problem In New York City]]".
* [[https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/future-societies/matthew-f-amati/planet-earth-just-blew-and-theres-nothing-i-can-do "Planet Earth just Blew Up and there's Nothing I can do"]] first seems to be playing this straight, with the rich (ranging from Creator/DonaldTrump-type businessmen and celebrities to Jeff Bezos-type über-billionaires) fleeing earth for greener pastures when a meteor is about to strike, even admitting that they could have built more ships, but then wouldn't have time to make the first one as luxurious as possible. It then takes on an ironic twist, as the top class (the aforementioned über-billionaires) run out of their exclusive diet and has to take the food meant for the lower classes, before eventually resorting to eating the lower classes themselves (again, the lower classes in this case are hotel tycoons and pop stars). [[spoiler:It then becomes an inversion, as it turns out the whole "escape earth" thing was just an excuse to get the wealthy capitalists away from the planet so the rest of humanity could redistribute their wealth and rebuild the environment]].

* ''WebAnimation/ExtraCredits''' episodes on the Irish Potato Famine does not gloss over the fact that several people in the British government viewed the plague as a chance to "fix" what they saw as "amoral" (Catholic) and "lazy" Irish population.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** In the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E4TreehouseOfHorrorXVII Treehouse of Horror XVII]]" short "Married To The Blob," Mayor Quimby and the town of Springfield reach a compromise with Homer, who has gained an insatiable appetite after becoming The Blob: they keep Homer inside a new "homeless shelter," and any vagrants who enter are eaten by him. In a very twisted way, this is effectively supposed to kill two birds with one stone.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E6TreehouseOfHorrorV Treehouse of Horror V]]", Springfield Elementary decides to deal with its overcrowded detention hall by serving them for lunch.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E5SideshowBobRoberts Sideshow Bob Roberts]]", a Creator/RushLimbaugh parody mocks the political left for not wanting to arrest the homeless.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E5HomerVsDignity Homer vs. Dignity]]", Homer wants to get rid of money that he earned from Mr. Burns by humiliating himself:
--->'''Lisa:''' Well, there's lots of needy kids out there.\\
'''Homer:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I see what you're saying. I need to buy a gun!]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''

* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', "Fields of Honey": Babs tries to get money to buy a theater from [[JerkAss Montana Max]], claiming to be collecting "to help end poverty on Earth." He is about to slam the door in her face when she explains that the plan is [[ExactWords to send all the people without money to the Moon]]. He gives her a bagful of cash.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "A Picture is Worth 1,000 Bucks," Peter remarks that UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity is a lot nicer ever since Rudy Giuliani secretly had the homeless people killed.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS2E10Chickenpox Chickenpox]]'' the boys have to write a paper on how to make America better. Kyle's dad [[ALessonLearnedTooWell inadvertently gives his son the idea that putting all poor people in concentration camps is the solution.]]
--> "My dad is the smartest guy in the whole wide world. He has taught me that all poor people are actually things called clods. I wanna live in a world of only gods, so my idea to make America better is put all the poor people into camps. If we get rid of them, there will be nothing but rich people. And there won't be any hunger, poverty, or homeless people. 'Cause they'll all be dead. The end."
** "[[Recap/SouthParkS11E7NightOfTheLivingHomeless Night of the Living Homeless]]" parodies ZombieApocalypse tropes. Hordes of homeless beggars arrive in South Park, and the adult residents wind up besieged on a rooftop, with Randy shooting any homeless who come near them and even a neighbor whose house was foreclosed on. To be fair, there was literally something WRONG with those people - they refused to eat (or purchase food) and gained psychic sustenance from the act of receiving money. That could just be the prejudiced Homeless Division manager's opinion, but everyone afflicted would beg for change even if [[TooDumbToLive they were staring at a shotgun barrel]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'': Jay's mother wants to blast the poor into outer space.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
** In the episode [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE26AppointmentInCrimeAlley "Appointment In Crime Alley"]], this is [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Roland Daggett's]] scheme. He wants to demolish and build on top of the [[WrongSideOfTheTracks Park Row]] (or as it's better known, [[WretchedHive "Crime Alley"]]) district and won't take "no" for an answer, deciding to simply blow up the place regardless of how many people it kills.
** Nearly as ugly is the plot in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE8TheForgotten The Forgotten]]": a slavery ring snatches homeless people off the streets of Gotham City and flies them to some stiflingly hot badlands thousands of miles out west, where they are forced to mine gold under dangerous conditions and are locked in sweat boxes if they offer the least resistance. As one of the captives puts it: "I used to be one of Gotham's unemployed. Now I got a job - [[SarcasmMode lucky me!]]"

* Light in ''Manga/DeathNote'' hints that, after eliminating crime, he would rid his new world of the unemployed.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Robocop}}'' series, OCP's devised plan is to level most of Detroit and build the new Delta City by using increasingly unscrupulous methods to push the agenda. By ''Film/RoboCop3'', the Rehab officers are [[StateSec paramilitary mercenary cops]] that have free reign to harass, threaten, imprison and execute the people of Detroit as they see fit. All their attention is focused on the poor and destitute that are "holding back progress." In the end, the Detroit PD resigns en masse and joins with the people stuck in the slums while the Rehab forces enlist several street gangs in a city-wide war.

* Leopoldo Gout's ''Literature/GhostRadio'' follows a radio DJ named Joaquin who narrowly survives accidents that take the lives of his family and friends, inspiring him to start the titular call-in station for people to share [[GhostStory ghost stories]] on the air. But as Joaquin becomes afflicted by supernatural events left and right, more innocent people begin to die by inexplicable means. For bonus points, the actual song plays a pivotal role throughout the story, to the point that [[spoiler:the first letters of the first two stanzas on his tattoo form the pattern to a Toltec ritual, which Joaquin must perform to save his girlfriend's life.]]
* In Robert Southey's poem "God's Judgment on a Wicked Bishop" (based on the legend of Bishop Hatto, below) a greedy bishop refuses to share his food stocks with famished people and, fed up with their pleas, invites them to a huge barn for a feast, and then burns them all alive. [[spoiler: He is then eaten by a pack of rats.]]

* [[https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/future-societies/matthew-f-amati/planet-earth-just-blew-and-theres-nothing-i-can-do "Planet Earth just Blew Up and there's Nothing I can do"]] first seems to be playing this straight, with the rich (ranging from Creator/DonaldTrump-type businessmen and celebrities to Jeff Bezos-type über-billionaires) fleeing earth for greener pastures when a meteor is about to strike, even admitting that they could have built more ships, but then wouldn't have time to make the first one as luxurious as possible. It then takes on an ironic twist, as the top class (the aforementioned über-billionaires) run out of their exclusive diet and has to take the food meant for the lower classes, before eventually resorting to eating the lower classes themselves (again, the lower classes in this case are hotel tycoons and pop stars). [[spoiler:It then becomes an inversion, as it turns out the whole "escape earth" thing was just an excuse to get the wealthy capitalists away from the planet so the rest of humanity could redistribute their wealth and rebuild the enviroment]].

* [[https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/future-societies/matthew-f-amati/planet-earth-just-blew-and-theres-nothing-i-can-do "Planet Earth just Blew Up and there's Nothing I can do"]] first seems to be playing this straight, with the rich (ranging from Creator/DonaldTrump-type businessmen and celebrities to Jeff Bezos-type über-billionaires) fleeing earth for greener pastures when a meteor is about to strike, even admitting that they could have built more ships, but then wouldn't have time to make the first one as luxurious as possible. It then takes on an ironic twist, as the top class (the aforementioned über-billionaires) run out of their exclusive diet and has to take the food meant for the lower classes, before eventually resorting to eating the lower classes themselves (again, the lower classes in this case are hotel tycoons and pop stars). [[spoiler:It then becomes an inversion, as it turns out the whole "escape earth" thing was just an excuse to get the wealthy capitalists away from the planet so the rest of humanity could redistribute their wealth and rebuild the enviroment]].

In either case, such positions are usually rife with sociopolitical and socioeconomic {{Satire}} and [[RuleOfSymbolism Symbolism]], exaggerating how {{Upper Class Twit}}s and other wealthy elites both ''want'' to view the poor and lower classes and, more cynically, how they may ''actually'' view such groups; in this fashion, the concept could be used as a form of BlackComedy or establish a CosyCatastrophe. To other extents, this could involve a character crossing the MoralEventHorizon and establishing oneself as a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain. In hyperbolic, satirical cases, it might lead to HighClassCannibal.

In either case, such positions are usually rife with sociopolitical and socioeconomic {{Satire}} and [[RuleOfSymbolism Symbolism]], exaggerating how {{Upper Class Twit}}s and other wealthy elites both ''want'' to view the poor and lower classes and, more cynically, how they may ''actually'' view such groups; in this fashion, the concept could be used as a form of BlackComedy or establish a CosyCatastrophe. To other extents, this could involve a character crossing the MoralEventHorizon and establishing oneself as a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain. In dramatic cases, it might lead to HighClassCannibal.

In either case, such positions are usually rife with sociopolitical and socioeconomic {{Satire}} and [[RuleOfSymbolism Symbolism]], exaggerating how {{Upper Class Twit}}s and other wealthy elites both ''want'' to view the poor and lower classes and, more cynically, how they may ''actually'' view such groups; in this fashion, the concept could be used as a form of BlackComedy or establish a CosyCatastrophe. To other extents, this could involve a character crossing the MoralEventHorizon and establishing oneself as a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain.

* In ''Manga/{{Kaiji}}'', the contestants for the DeadlyGame are drawn from the lowest dregs of society, people who are deeply in debt whether through circumstances beyond their control or through their own poor judgment. Then they are coerced to participate in the games for a money prize that will solve their financial problems if they survive that long, all for the amusement of a collection of insanely rich clients and {{yakuza}}. The KillerGameMaster justifies this by asserting that he and the other "[[PrivilegeMakesYouEvil elites]]" had to spend decades of their lives working hard to accumulate the wealth they're offering up, [[MoralMyopia so it's only fair the contestants offer up their lives as well]].

* While [[AllAreEqualInDeath everyone gets processed into]] Film/SoylentGreen sooner or later, the poor are much more likely to be "sooner" and the rich much more likely to be "later". The rich have medical care, protection from the violence of the desperate people outside their luxury condo-fortresses, and adequate (if unimpressive) nutrition. The only public programs that seem to exist for the poor are [[WeWillHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture the facilities for "going home"]].

* While [[AllAreEqualInDeath everyone gets processed into]] Film/SoylentGreen sooner or later, the poor are much more likely to be "sooner" and the rich much more likely to be "later". The rich have medical care, protection from the violence of the desperate people outside their luxury condo-fortresses, and adequate (if unimpressive) nutrition. The only public programs that seem to exist for the poor are [[WeShallHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture the facilities for going "home"]].

* While [[AllAreEqualInDeath everyone gets processed into]] Film/SoylentGreen sooner or later,

In either case, such positions are usually rife with sociopolitical and socioeconomic {{Satire}} and [[RuleOfSymbolism Symbolism]], exaggerating how {{Upper Class Twit}}s and TheProudElite and other wealthy elites both ''want'' to view the poor and lower classes and, more cynically, how they may ''actually'' view such groups; in this fashion, the concept could be used as a form of BlackComedy or establish a CosyCatastrophe. To other extents, this could involve a character crossing the MoralEventHorizon and establishing oneself as a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain.

In either case, such positions are usually rife with sociopolitical and socioeconomic {{Satire}} and [[RuleOfSymbolism Symbolism]], exaggerating how {{Upper Class Twit}}s and other wealthy elites both ''want'' to view the poor and lower classes and, more cynically, how they may ''actually'' view such groups; in this fashion, the concept could be used as a form of BlackComedy or establish a CosyCatastrophe. To other extents, this could involve a character crossing the MoralEventHorizon and establishing oneself as a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain.