Line #108 Main/EatTheRich


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10	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Eattherich_770.jpg]]
11	[[caption-width-right:330:Part of a balanced breakfast.]]
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13	%% Admin Note: Do not replace the line from the Aerosmith song here again. It has nothing to do with the trope, which is the stock phrase used to demonize the well-off.
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15	->''"When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich."''
16	--> -- '''Creator/JeanJacquesRousseau'''
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18	%% Admin Note: Do not replace the line from the Aerosmith song here again. It has nothing to do with the trope, which is the stock phrase used to demonize the well-off.
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20
21	A StockPhrase and concept used to encourage the vilification of wealthy people.
22
23	Frequently, the phrase is used to metaphorically advocate a class uprising or revolt among the lower and working classes against those viewed as [[AristocratsAreEvil Evil Aristocrats]] and {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s--the Have Nots taking from the Haves. Occasionally, that metaphor is accompanied by language and imagery that [[LiteralMetaphor literally]] suggests [[ImAHumanitarian eating the rich]].
24
25	Compare RichInDollarsPoorInSense. Contrast KillThePoor and NoPoverty. HighClassCannibal is the [[LiteralMetaphor literal]] inverse.
26
27	See Also: HatesRichPeople for characters who hate well-off folks.
28
29	For the comic, see ''ComicBook/EatTheRich2021''.
30
31	----
32	!!Examples:
33
34	[[foldercontrol]]
35
36	[[folder:Art]]
37	* Guerrilla street artist Creator/{{Banksy}} used the phrase in one of his works [[https://web.archive.org/web/20211109192459/http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3440/3965058479_9ac1fbedf5_z.jpg with his own humorous slant.]]
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Clothing]]
41	* The UK-based clothing label Eat the Rich prides itself on producing "sweatshop-free" T-shirts while promoting a vegetarian lifestyle, including some shirts with the message, "Meat sucks, [[HypocriticalHumor eat the rich]]."
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Comic Books]]
45	* ''ComicBook/EatTheRich2021'' is titled such because Joey is a working-class newcomer to the rich town of Crestfall Bluffs who is horrified by how they [[HighClassCannibal exploit]] the staff. [[spoiler:It then becomes literal since Joey leads the help in an uprising against the rich residents and eats them.]]
46	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Jaded PI Micah Rains' favorite T-Shirt has "Eat the Rich" printed on it in huge letters.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
50	* ''Film/AssaultOnWallStreet'' depicts the 2008 financial crisis as the collapse of a giant Ponzi scheme pulled off by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt portfolio managers and bank executives]]. The protagonist, Jim, who having been conned out of his money and lured into a debt trap of $60,000, ends up losing his house, his job, and then his wife, who commits suicide out of guilt that she feels responsible for her husband's pain. He tried to argue with the Assistant District Attorney who refused to take his case but accidentally ends up killing him instead, inspiring him to go on a [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge killing spree]] upon Wall Street's most powerful corporates so that when they die, their wealth will be used to compensate the Ponzi scheme's victims.
51	* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', [[GeniusBruiser Bane]] manipulates many of Gotham's citizens into rioting against the city's upper class and remaining authority figures, causing chaos [[spoiler:to distract from Talia's plan to [[NukeEm nuke the city]].]] There is even a KangarooCourt where said targets of the rioting populace are considered guilty by default and get to choose one of two punishments: Exile, or death [[spoiler:by exile]].
52	* In John Waters' ''Film/DesperateLiving'', the evil Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey) ends up cooked and eaten by her subjects.
53	* In ''Film/EatingRaoul'' the Blands murder well-to-do swingers and steal their money and personal possessions. Their partner Raoul disposes of the bodies by selling them to a local dog food manufacturer.
54	* The [[BritCom British]] BlackComedy ''Film/{{Eat the Rich}}'' from [[Series/TheComicStripPresents The Comic Strip]] comedy troupe is about a waiter at an exclusive, high-class restaurant who, no longer willing to put up with the disgust and contempt of the upper class, begins [[ExaggeratedTrope serving minced rich people]] with a side of chips to ''other'' rich people at the restaurant.
55	* The premise of the horror film ''Film/EatTheRichTheCannibalMurders''.
56	* In ''Film/Joker2019'', [[spoiler:Arthur shooting three yuppies on the subway]] is misunderstood by the media and public as being politically motivated (in truth, he had [[spoiler:shot the first two out of self-defense and the third for joining the other two in harassing him]]). This sparks a series of violent protests against economic inequality, with "Kill the Rich!" slogans prominently displayed.
57	* VillainProtagonist Bill Foster in ''Film/FallingDown'' was a dark WorkingClassHero on a GoingPostal rampage against the society that left him behind. When walking through a country club, he's accosted by a wealthy GrumpyOldMan. Bill then [[RecklessGunUsage pulls out a shotgun]] and goes on an angry tirade accusing him of hoarding land that could be used to benefit the community, causing the man to die of a heart attack from the stress [[MurderByInaction as Bill mocks him]].
58	* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in ''Film/LandOfTheDead''. Creator/GeorgeARomero's zombie flicks tend to have an underlying social message, and in the case of this film, it concerns how the wealthy poorly treat the lower classes. When the flesh-eating undead horde siege the Fiddler's Green colony, although both rich and poor die in the onslaught, the more intelligent zombies' main targets are the upper-class establishment. Once they're wiped out, the zombies withdraw and the class system ceases to exist. It's revealed afterward that the majority of Fiddler's Green other residents have survived the zombie attack.
59	* ''Film/MajorGromPlagueDoctor''. The Plague Doctor carries out several vigilante murders of corrupt Russian oligarchs, then proceeds to fake his death, leaving a supposed VideoWill calling on his supporters to take up his cause by robbing and killing rich people whose names and addresses he sends out on the Internet. His actual intention is to get rid of the oligarchs trying to steal his company (he's like an evil Batman), then martial law will be declared and the army will [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness shoot his riff-raff followers]].
60	* ''Film/TheMenu'': Chef Julian's primary motivation is to exact revenge on the people who have made his life a stressful hell without even properly appreciating his food, and most of his elite clientele are shown to be rather contemptible. [[spoiler:Since Julian himself is very wealthy, and parts of the menu extend to punishing himself, the ethos extends to him as well.]]
61	* In ''Film/Parasite2019'', the Kims are undoubtedly swindlers who take advantage of the Parks, but they also suffered poverty and lack of opportunity. While the Parks are presented fairly sympathetically, their wealth and comfort at the expense of the people in their service contrast very sharply with the living conditions and lifestyles of the Kims. This is ramped up by the end when [[spoiler:Ki-taek, fed up with the Parks' ConspicuousConsumption and denigration of the lower classes, fatally stabs Mr. Park. He flees, becomes a fugitive, and runs back to the Parks' house where he remains in the secret bunker. After the (surviving) Parks move out, the house is bought out by German expatriates, and he survives off eating their food. There is no guarantee that his son will be able to secure his freedom by buying the house, so it can be presumed Ki-taek will have to live like a cockroach for the rest of his life.]]
62	* In ''[[Film/Rampage2009 Rampage: Capital Punishment]]'' Bill Williamson sends out a nationwide broadcast raving, "We need to kill the rich. You get out there, you use your weapons, you rip Washington apart, you hunt down the billionaires, the bank bosses, the [=CEOs=], the scumbags and the liars, the governors, the lobbies, the senators!"
63	** The third movie ''President Down'' has Bill's dreams come true [[spoiler:despite that he died before he was able to see it]] when his viral followers arm up and start targeting the wealthy elite and decision-makers who are affiliated with the U.S. government, the U.S. military, large powerful conglomerates such as Microsoft and General Motors, Wall Street, big banks and even Hollywood and the music industry.
64	* In ''Film/{{Snowpiercer}}'', the rich occupy the front of the titular train and enjoy gourmet meals while the lower classes in the back subsist on [[FutureFoodIsArtificial nutrient jelly made from bugs]] and recycled water. Said lower classes, sick of the mistreatment they face, launch a revolt.
65	* In ''Film/AVeryHaroldAndKumar3DChristmas'', Harold who works as a Wall Street banker is swarmed by a crowd of unemployed protesters part of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. One of the picket signs they carry say this trope's name.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Jokes]]
69	* An anonymous quip: "Eat the rich. The poor are tough and stringy."
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Literature]]
73	* One of the phrases used on the 'We Want What You Have' blog in ''Literature/{{Capital}}''.
74	* ''Literature/DeadSilence'' has the luxury space liner Aurora built to cater to the rich. For those who might be afraid of this trope, they built the "Versailles Contingency", a failsafe in the form of panic rooms that would seal and save the very richest passengers in case of a mutiny. Being a SciFiHorror story, it didn't save them.
75	* Political satirist and journalist P.J. O'Rourke published the book ''Eat The Rich: A Treatise On Economics''. The last chapter, titled "[[TitleDrop Eat the Rich]]," praises capitalism as "the worst economic system anyone ever invented, [[EverythingExceptMostThings except for all the others]]."
76	* In the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' books, Pierre, the head of the People's Republic of Haven, does this three times. First, he confiscates the wealth of the Legislaturists -- the previous ruling class -- but it's not anywhere enough money to fund Haven's social welfare system and solve its financial problems. Then he gives the Legislaturists show trials and executes them, which only makes the mob hungry for more blood. So he unleashes Haven's navy on the Star Kingdom of Manticore, an enormously wealthy neighbour, in order to solve both his financial and the bloodthirsty populace's problems. [[spoiler:This sets off a chain of events that results in his own death and brings the People's Republic within weeks of total collapse. Though other things he does do result in improvements in Haven's economy and society, long term.]]
77	* ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'': In one short story named "Comrade Bingo", one of Bertie's IdleRich friends is in love with the daughter of a communist revolutionary. He disguises himself and gives speeches with a very Eat the Rich bent to them:
78	-->'''Bingo:''' And the fat one! Don't miss him. Do you know who that is? That’s Lord Bittlesham! One of the worst. What has he ever done except eat four square meals a day? His god is his belly, and he sacrifices burnt-offerings to it till his eyes bubble. If you opened that man now you would find enough lunch to support ten working-class families for a week.
79	* In ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'', humanity in the distant future has "evolved" into two human subspecies: The Eloi, who are descendants of the wealthy elite, and the monstrous, subterranean Morlocks, who are descendants of the working class who now feed on the Eloi, playing this trope rather literally.
80	* In one story of ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' a bunch of celebrities lock themselves in a well-armed and supplied compound during the outbreak. It falls not to zombies, [[spoiler:but to the starving masses]].
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
84	* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': In Season 2, [[SinisterMinister Sebastian Blood]] seems to be spouting this as part of his rhetoric to the masses, using [[spoiler:the destruction of the Glades]] by [[VisionaryVillain Malcolm Merlyn]] at the end of Season 1 as justification.
85	* The spirit of the trope is very much alive in ''Series/GameOfThrones,'' in which the famine-stricken poor of King's Landing riot against the aristocracy. While they are not actually shown eating anyone onscreen, the line in the book that the crowd "tore the High Septon limb from limb" was taken very literally on the television show, looking like something out of a ZombieApocalypse.
86	* Mentioned by name in an episode of ''Series/{{Gotham}}''; a SerialKiller known as "the Goat" kills the social elite with decades in between rampages, and it turns out that [[spoiler:a psychotherapist has been hypnotising and brainwashing her clients into doing it. When confronted with this, she explains that the old belief that people can't be hypnotised into doing something they don't want to do is true and that her plan only worked because, deep down, people really do want to "eat the rich"]].
87	* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'':
88	** In "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E7TheThingLayStill The Thing Lay Still]]", most of the guests that the vampire family invite to their Mardi Gras ball are the elite of New Orleans, and several human prey are selected for the after-party feast, where Lestat de Lioncourt, Louis de Pointe du Lac, and Claudia literally eat the rich.
89	--->'''Lestat''': Well, this idea of yours, what kind of a party did you imagine?\
90	'''Claudia''': A ball. A lavish, decadent ball.\
91	'''Lestat''': To what end?\
92	'''Claudia''': We invite the most beautiful, the most gluttonous, seduce a choice few for a feast to remember.
93	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmfMte3L4A&t=13s In the Season 2 First Look Scene,]] Armand targets the wealthy de la Croix family and their guests as food for his vampire coven because of their war profiteering during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
94	--->'''Armand''': The estate of the family de la Croix. Whilst their countrymen clutch ration cards, they've made quite a killing manipulating the black markets.
95	* Subverted in season 2 of ''Series/IZombie'', regarding the Chaos Killer. Ostensibly a SerialKiller inspired by the "Occupy" movement who is targeting Seattle's wealthy, he's actually Major going after the city's zombie population, having been coerced into becoming a zombie hunter by the energy drink company Max Rager, who wants to keep [[TheVirus one of the side effects]] of their flagship product under control. The idea of a radical leftist kidnapping and murdering these people helps to throw off suspicion from the real culprits.
96	* Quite [[spoiler:literally]] with Hickey from ''Series/TheTerror''. Working-class Hickey begins the series with quite reasonable gripes about the way lower-ranking men are treated and the life-or-death power of the incompetent officers who are [[spoiler:leading everyone to their deaths]]. The story then has Hickey [[spoiler:stage a mutiny, psychopathically sabotage everyone’s chances of escape, and start killing and eating his comrades and superiors as revenge against the officers who have humiliated him. He is defeated by the reasonable and noble captain Crozier, and his own hubris]].
97	* The New Zealand show ''Series/TheTribe'' sees The Locos wear jackets with the slogan "STAY WARM BURN THE RICH" on the back of them while under the Zoot regime.
98	* ''Series/You2018'''s fourth season sees Joe get tangled up in the exploits of a SerialKiller called the "Eat the Rich killer", since they are seemingly targeting members of an extremely elite London social circle.
99
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Music]]
103	* Music/{{Aerosmith}} recorded a song titled "Eat the Rich" for their 1993 LP ''Get a Grip''. It quickly became a crowd favorite at live concerts.
104	* In the Music/BadReligion song "I Want to Conquer the World", one of the things the singer says he'll do to establish his utopia is "expose the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corporates]] and feed them to the children."
105	* Music/BlackSabbath (performing under the name Heaven & Hell) allude to this in a song called "Eating The Cannibals."
106	-->''Taking till you've got no more to give''\
107	''Building boxes where you used to live''\
108	''The word out on the street is no delay''\
109	''Do it today!''\
110	''Come to the meeting''\
111	''It's true that we're eating the cannibals!''\
112	''...''\
113	''Come on in, we love our clientele''\
114	''You're here to taste revenge, and so you shall''\
115	''It's been raised upon your body and your bones''\
116	''But now you're not alone!''
117	* Swedish band First Floor Power's "Eat The Rich" suggests that you "make sure to cook them first - they're dry."
118	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample: * Sometimes taken quite literally with Music/{{GWAR}}.
119	* The German rap formation Music/{{KIZ}} has a song called "Ich esse Reiche" - "I eat rich people":
120	-->''Zeig mir dein Alarmsystem auf MTV Cribs''\
121	''Und beim nächsten Abendessen sind deine Kinder die Ribs!''
122	* "Eat the Rich" is also the title of a song by metal band Krokus about a homeless man who is sick of being abused and seeks to take his aggression out on people who have more than he does.
123	* The [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Motörhead]] song "Eat the Rich" was written as the title track for the film of the same name (See {{Film}}, above), which also featured Lemmy in a supporting role. However, the song's lyrics are actually a thinly veiled reference to a certain sex act. The song is mostly remembered for its chorus.
124	-->''C'mon baby, eat the rich,''\
125	''Put the bite on that son of a bitch!''
126	%% * Music/RageAgainstTheMachine has a lot of songs about taking down the rich people that control society
127	* The bridge of Music/TearsForFears' [[Music/EverybodyLovesAHappyEnding "Closest Thing to Heaven"]] instructs the listener to "eat the countries that are making billions" and "save the crumbs for all the starving millions."
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
131	* ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'':
132	** In one Sunday strip, UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump at one point mused on the greatness of America since it helped him become wealthy. He starts bragging about his wealth to one of the main cast members, Ronald-Ann, a poor girl who lives on the wrong side of the tracks. The strip ends with Trump remarking that it's amazing that people like her haven't risen up and eaten people like him already. To which Ronald-Ann's headless doll replies, "Yet."
133	** Earlier, one of the times that Bill and Opus ran for President and Vice President, Opus was accused of being... a ''liberal''. After unsuccessfully fending off the accusation for a while, Opus finally gave up and screamed that what he really wanted was to see the rich ground up into hamburger to feed the poor.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Print Media]]
137	* Paris Hilton, of all people, posed in a {{Stripperific}} bikini emblazoned with the words "EAT THE RICH" in a photoshoot for ''Magazine/RollingStone'' magazine's 2006 Hot List. It has been suggested that she used 'eat' in a specific [[EroticEating meaning]].
138	[[/folder]]
139
140	[[folder:Roleplay]]
141	* In ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', Daigo planned to create a lizard monster and have it gorge on the upper-class, due to his distaste for how they ostracise and discriminate against the lower classes. However, he's instead manipulated by his girlfriend to test it first in a poverty-stricken area, which leads to its death when the protagonists find out about it.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Theatre]]
145	* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'': During the song "A Little Priest", Sweeney Todd briefly considers [[ImAHumanitarian exclusively serving the upper classes]] in Mrs. Lovett's pie shop before discarding the idea as "discriminating".
146	[[/folder]]
147
148	[[folder:Video Games]]
149	* In ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'', [[spoiler:although Mandus and the Engineer initially [[KillThePoor focus their murderous intentions on the lower class]], they still [[MisanthropeSupreme hate the rich with equal fervor]], and once their diabolical machine is ready, Mandus turns his attention to abducting wealthy guests at his mansion and transporting them to the machine [[ImAHumanitarian to be turned into food for the next batch of guests]].]]
150	* In ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', Rapture's KillThePoor attitude finally gives rise to a massive rebellion not just by the oppressed working class but also by the ADAM-addicted Splicers. The majority of the city's upper class is killed in the ensuing riots, though so is almost everyone else.
151	* A general motif in ''VideoGame/LuckBeALandlord''; your landlord is set to be 'defeated', and will receive a random death upon completion of the game. There is also the Billionaire symbol, which gives no money to you when rolled (though it will increase the value of nearby Cheese and Wine) but delivers a tidy sum when destroyed...possibly by the Guillotine item.
152	* One of the main themes of ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'':
153	** Avarice Criminals are defined by AVAC as people who are extremely greedy, regardless of their morals, and because the organization loosely interprets the law, they arrest anyone that they consider as Avarice Criminals [[AllCrimesAreEqual regardless of the crime's severity, their innocence, or their financial status.]] If they can't pay the fine, which increases with their Renunciation Rate the more they defy the law, they get Fixed by AVAC by being injected with an emotion-suppressing drug.
154	** Starting on Week 3, AVAC encourages everyone to report anyone they suspect to have committed Avarice Crimes with the press of a button, and they expect to catch 90 Avarice Criminals by the end of each week. Every day, they publicly update the bulletin boards with the number of criminals reported, the place with the highest crime rate, and the top reporter of Ajik City. You are also encouraged to participate in this by reporting any of your customers who are tagged with a Pre-Avarice Crime Badge so they can be arrested immediately, but this risks destroying your store's reputation because it gets labeled as a place with a high crime rate. You can also be reported for falsely reporting innocents who just happened to be reported themselves.
155	** If you haven't donated to the Fixerain Project for the week, an AVAC officer will constantly urge you to do so, telling you that you have more than enough money for it. Even if you know that the project is bad for the city since it involves forcing the emotion-suppressing drug on everyone with artificial rain, the officer shames you by telling you the exact amount of money you have since donations are only 100V each, which increases by a hundred more the more you donate to AVAC.
156	** The economic inequality between the Junuk Side and Singsing Side of the city can be seen as you go to work. You move from the slums of Junuk to the Elevator Bridge that lifts you to Singsing, where all the high-end businesses, including Darcy's secondhand store, are. This is because all the money was pored into funding Singsing Side even after its status as an Avarice Permitted Zone, which was declared by [[spoiler:Darcy Jo]], was abolished. If you accumulate more than 20k [[FictionalCurrency Vana]], the residents of Junuk start protesting against this inequality on the Elevator Bridge, and to further shame you for your riches, you can't skip this cutscene if you take the Elevator Bridge to work and back. [[spoiler:If you accumulate more than 50k Vana, a cyberattack steals half of your money from you [[JustLikeRobinHood as part of a relief scheme for the impoverished]], although AVAC pays it back to you towards the end of the day.]]
157	* Taken literally by the Commoners in ''VideoGame/ToothAndTail'', a game set in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals where [[SapientEatSapient the sole source of meat is other people]]. The Commoners' goal in winning the CivilWar is to institute a Dictatorship of the Proletariat, where everyone would vote on who would get eaten (the Commoners are by far the most populous faction, so no guesses who's going to come up short under that system).
158	* From 2006 to 2008, there was a zombie group called "Eat The Rich" in ''VideoGame/UrbanDead''. They only attacked mansions, malls, banks, and office buildings.
159	* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': Grendel's lore has an example that's both figurative and literal. In the Europan city Riddha, the impoverished population starved while a gluttonous Orokin Executor named Karishh hoarded all the food for himself, even getting artificial stomachs grafted onto him so he could eat twelve times as much as a normal man. Grendel, a man-eating Warframe, stormed Karishh's mansion, devoured the corrupt guards, then used his "Nourish" ability to revitalize the weakened citizens, who went on to storm the manse and eat their fill for the first time in ages. It's implied that Karishh was later literally eaten by Grendel when he tried to flee into the mountains, where a satisfied-sounding belch was later heard.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Webcomics]]
163	* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' has Mr. Ishiguro [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2900/fc02843.htm trying to explain the problem to Mr. Kornada]]:
164	-->'''Ishiguro:''' It's okay to have steak when there's a chicken in every pot. But if you're eating steak and the majority of people have nothing, it doesn't take long for you to look like a chicken.
165	[[/folder]]
166
167	[[folder:Western Animation]]
168	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Shouted by Hop Pop just before guillotining the Cloak-Bot’s arm.
169	* One of Creator/AdultSwim's bumpers for ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' has Bob and Gene singing a song about rising up against the rich.
170	* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In "The First Adventure!", an OriginsEpisode, young Donald Duck is shown going through a {{Grunge}} phase, and he uses this line in a song he makes up ''in front of his ultra-rich uncle''.
171	-->''Just another rich uncle\
172	Gotta [[SuddenlyShouting EAT THE RICH UN-CLE]]\
173	Store up all that rage in a bin\
174	RICH UNC—''
175	[[/folder]]
176
177	[[folder:Real Life]]
178	* OlderThanDirt. One of the reasons the [[AfterTheEnd/RealLife Bronze Age Collapse]] got [[DisasterDominoes as bad as it did]] was that after key cities were depopulated by natural disasters, mass civil unrest occurred ending with peasants overthrowing their ruling classes. These events resulted in [[TerminallyDependentSociety massive disruption of international trade]], weakening every state involved and leaving them ripe for the [[PrecursorKillers Sea People invasions]].
179	* The Dutch Republic was a wealthy country, but in 1672, a French invasion led to the head of government, Johann de Witt, to be lynched by a crowd opposed to his 20-year-long rule, and was ultimately partially eaten by the mob.
180	* Reportedly one of the worst horrors of China's UsefulNotes/CulturalRevolution. According to Zheng Yi's book "Scarlet Memorial," members of the Red Guard and general public in Guangxi are reported to have killed, divvied up, and publicly eaten over a hundred former landlords, "intellectuals" (e.g. school teachers), other "[[TheRemnant counter-revolutionaries]]" and their descendants as a show of loyalty to Mao and his ideals, with the backing of the local (but not national) Party. Bodies were split up and served to the community to partake of en masse, and the murderers were often people close to the victims who were making a show of their revolutionary fervor. [[ReformedButNotTamed Many of the former revolutionaries are still in power to this day.]] Virtually the same types of purges would play out in Cambodia, Vietnam, and North Korea when Communists gained control of those countries. In Cambodia's case, this was much worse because the Khmer Rouge took an absurdly broad view of "The Rich," including [[InsaneTrollLogic people with glasses]] and [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide virtually all ethnic minorities.]]
181	* This trope served as a metaphor for the Communists' [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober October Revolution in Russia]] and the temporary upswing in public support the Bolsheviks gained in the cities prior to the general election and the outbreak of the Civil War.[[note]]In which they secured some 24% of the total vote, including virtually the entire urban vote. They did this by promising to relieve the famines in St Petersburg and Moscow. These had occurred in the winter of 1916-17 because the country's village communes had stopped producing or selling as much grain: the total mobilisation of industry for war production meant there was nothing left that they wanted to buy, and the value of money steadily decreased thanks to the wartime economic boom and the government's inflationary policies. For a time the Bolsheviks were able to marginally improve the food situation in the two major cities by pillaging the nearby countryside for food and leaving the survivors to die, but after a while, their raiding parties had to go further and further afield and the supplies they brought in were no longer enough to keep everyone in the cities alive. Although the rapacious raiding marked the end of the peasants' ambivalence to the Bolsheviks and the return of starvation ended city folk's willing support for them as well, they were quite ruthless in using their powers of life-and-death (through the insufficient rations they dealt out) over the starving urban proletariat to consolidate their control over the country.[[/note]] The sheer mind-blowing incompetence of the nobility in their management of and interference in the war effort, the sickening war-profiteering and conspicuous consumption (even during the winter of 1916-17!) of the captains of industry after total economic mobilisation in 1915-16, and the bureaucratic nightmare of the Russian state meant that many quite rightly blamed the upper-classes for the country's plight and so inspired 60% of the entire country to vote for the Socialist Revolutionary Party (which promised a socialist democracy) and a further 24% to vote for the Communist Party (which [[WellIntentionedExtremist promised a communist democracy]]). The Bolsheviks refused to accept their loss and shut down the assembly elected when it tried to meet.
182	* Creator/LeonBloy ''gleefully exulted'' the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, a fire at the Opéra-Comique in 1887 which killed dozens, and another fire in 1896, at the Bazar de la Charité, an annual Catholic charity event, which cost more than 100 lives. He even ''jubilated'' at the thought of a wealthy woman burning to death in ''The Woman Who Was Poor''.
183	* A [[RealityIsUnrealistic bizarre]] 1870 case of mass hysteria (he relayed bad news and was accused of being a Prussian spy) ended with an aristocrat, Alain de [[PunnyName Monéys]], being burnt ''[[NightmareFuel alive]]'' by the villagers of Hautefaye, France who, allegedly, used the resulting fat drippings in cooking. Unruly French peasants reportedly also roasted an aristocrat in the Jacquerie peasant uprising during UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar and force-fed him to his family, whom they killed too.
184	* UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution being inspired and prophesied by Rousseau was entirely driven by this mentality. During the Great Fear after the fall of the Bastille, across France several people marched into châteaux, seized weapons, killed aristocrats, beheading them and [[DeadGuyOnDisplay putting it on a pike]] which they carried with them. Images of mobs carrying pikes with heads became an iconic part of the revolution. Most of those heads were aristocrats, soldiers, and in one famously appalling incident, UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette's confidante and friend, the Princesse de Lamballe.
185	** One grotesque case is that of the tax minister Foullon, notoriously unpopular and severe. There was a rumour that he was supposed to have suggested that "the poor eat hay" if they are starving. The poor ''were'' starving. When the mob got hold of him, they dragged him to Paris with his mouth stuffed with hay, and then they cut off his head and put it on a stick. Then they killed and beheaded his son-in-law too and made his head "Kiss Daddy!".
186	** The ReignOfTerror often has this reputation, seen as the blade that would fall under the necks of the rich. In actual fact, the final tally of victims of 17,000 people by Guillotine after a trial in the year 1793-1794 features only 8% of the victims being aristocrats (who considering they were 1% of the population did feel a disproportionate impact) with 25% of the victims being bourgeois and middle-class, 28% were peasants and working-class and the rest were clergy. During the final month, the period of the "Great Terror" after the Law of 22 Prarial, [[AxCrazy where 1,000 people were executed in a single month]] (matching the executions in Paris the previous year), the victims became 38% nobility, 26% clergy, with [[EatTheRich the wealthy victims]] discriminated against since the law deprived them of a [[KangarooCourt right to call for witnesses, legal representatives or evidence]] by which according to Georges Couthon ([[HangingJudge who drafted the law to the Convention]]), wealthier accused escaped the blade before. This eventually led to the Thermidorian Reaction and the end of the Terror. Robespierre and his closest associates, including Couthon, were [[HoistByHisOwnPetard guillotined themselves]] after this.
187	* The New York Draft Riots of 1863 were sparked by the outrage of wealthy young men being able to buy their way out of being drafted into the American Civil War, while the poor had no way out. Poor rioters targeted anyone on the street in wealthy-looking clothing, killing them in many cases. Unfortunately, blacks were also targeted, as the poor Irish immigrant participants also resented them for being exempted from the draft.
188	* ''The Los Angeles Times'' reported demonstrators in Beverly Hills, following the death of George Floyd, were heard chanting "EAT THE RICH!"
189	* 2020 saw protestors outside of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' home brandishing guillotines.
190	* A downplayed version of this happened with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStop_short_squeeze GameStop short squeeze]] in early 2021, as the store was floundering to the point that professional stock traders decided to short[[labelnote:What is shorting?]]The investor "borrows" the stock from someone else to return at a later date, so they sell the borrowed stocks immediately, then buy them back (ideally at a lower price) later for return, typically at a profit[[/labelnote]] the company's stock. Website/{{Reddit}} subforum "[=r/wallstreetbets=]" caught wind of this, and bought up the stock partially because they felt it was undervalued to start with, and partially as a means to deliver payback to the wealthy investors who'd played a large role in The Great Recession of 2007-2008. This ended up causing ''billions'' of dollars in losses to certain hedge funds, and was celebrated online as a modern-day redistribution of wealth from the insanely rich to the normal people.
191	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_submersible_implosion The implosion of]] the ''Titan'' submersible in 2023 drew very little public sympathy for its victims, which included the [=OceanGate=] CEO who provided the vessel, and four passengers who each paid $250,000 to get on board. Instead the event was widely mocked/criticized for rich people indulging in dangerous SnobbyHobbies, the ''Titan'''s lack of safety (citing the CEO's disdain for safety regulations), the millions in public funds spent on recovering the vessel, and the [[WorstNewsJudgmentEver media attention it received]] compared to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Messenia_migrant_boat_disaster another sinking incident]] which happened just days before and resulted in 500+ people dead or missing. Many news sources even described such reactions as "eat the rich".
192	[[/folder]]

Context Main / EatTheRich