Ted Lieu Links Dungeons and Dragons Demon List to Republican Claiming 'Demonic Possession' is Real
Historically, Dungeons & Dragons doesn't cross over with politics very well. The "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s, which at times ascribed Dungeons & Dragons as a Satanic cult recruitment tool, played no small part in the rise of fundamentalist Christian political activism. Few could have predicted that Dungeons & Dragons would be mentioned again by politicians in 2022, yet that's exactly what happened. Fewer yet would guess it's brought up with regard to the veracity of demonic possession.
The Dungeons & Dragons mention comes from US Congressman Ted Lieu, a representative for California's 33rd district based in Los Angeles County. Lieu made a post on Twitter in which he linked an article listing the "15 Most Powerful Demons in Dungeons & Dragons," and even goes so far as saying he's played the pen and paper RPG before. If that were the full extent of the context, it would be a relatively innocuous thing. Unfortunately, it's much worse than that.
Lieu made the Dungeons & Dragons post in response to a CNN article covering Kristina Karamo, a Republican candidate for Michigan's Secretary of State. The article covered Kristina Karamo's comments in which she explained her feelings on demonic possession. Karamo explained that having "intimate relationships with people who are demonically possessed or oppressed" could open "themselves up to possession. Demonic possession is real." Karamo was, at the time, trying to associate pro-choice advocates and women who have abortions with Satanic cults and child sacrifice.
Link to tweet
Needless to say, Karamo's comments hearken back to the era of Satanic panic in the 1980s, which never went away but also hasn't been seen so dramatically in politics in a generation. Perhaps that's why Lieu decided to mention Dungeons & Dragons in his post on Twitter, if only to make reference to a time when Dungeons & Dragons players were looked at as Satanists. That's something that's happening again, only instead of Dungeons & Dragons players being targeted, pro-choice supporters and women seeking reproductive healthcare are.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/us-congressman-links-dungeons-and-dragons-demon-list-to-republican-claiming-demonic-possession-is-real/ar-AAZ9XHt
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And Vecna, for starters. 