Writing Believable Rich People

There's a couple Noble Bigot people who assist the main characters at one point, but eventually become antagonists in their own right (some of them are revealed to be Innocent Bigot and eventually pull or at least attempt a Heel–Face Turn). They (the antagonists) were all born into very wealthy families and don't have a very good idea of what the average person deals with, which I'm hoping to make clear by the interactions.

For example, one character shows them a painting, which they all admire, before the artist explains it is based off of his experiences living in a slum and in poverty. Many of them become visibly uncomfortable and immediately try to change the subject.

The thing is, I'm trying to pull this off in a believable way. Yes, there genuinely are rich people who have a "not my problem" philosophy towards those less fortunate, but I don't want them to come off as moustache-twirling Straw Man.

Any pointers regarding this?

edited 11th Aug '14 9:31:55 AM by TheMuse

They might be unwilling to help those poorer than themselves out of ignorance, rather than outright selfishness. For example, a rich man (let's call him John) might refuse to give charity to the poor, as he is afraid they will become dependent on his handouts, and end up lazy, complacent and unwilling to put in the work to lift themselves out of poverty. In that case, the most moral thing for John to do is to withhold his charity, so as not to obstruct the poor from learning to help themselves.

The fact that John's worldview is bullshit is irrelevant - he is genuinely acting in good faith, based on an erroneous understanding of the real world. If someone could sit John down and explain to him why his beliefs are wrong, he'd most likely change his mind. Remember: he's not hoarding his money out of selfishness, but because he thinks it's the right thing to do. If someone convinced him that the right thing was actually to give to charity, he would do it without hesitation.

Unfortunately, John's worldview is unlikely to ever be threatened so directly, as he mostly interacts with other rich people who share the same or similar views as he does. Some of these peers may be like John - well-intentioned, but let down by their ignorance. But others might be genuinely selfish and greedy, and want to hold on to their wealth and power by any means. Thus, they invent the lie of charity corrupting the poor, and others as the need arises, to ensure that opinion among the upper-classes remains firmly in favour of the current, deeply unbalanced status quo.

This is a textbook echo chamber - a social environment where individuals are only ever exposed to others who share their opinions, creating a feedback loop that constantly reinforces their pre-existing beliefs and biases, and drowns out any dissent. It's not necessarily John's fault that he's stuck in that loop, but for him to ever learn the error of his ways, he needs to get out of it. He needs to come out, or be forced out of his comfort zone, away from the influence of his peers, so that he can come to see the world in a new way. And he needs to stay away, at least until he internalizes his new beliefs, so that he doesn't relapse once he returns.

Now, I'm not saying your heroes should kidnap our hypothetical John, here. What I mean is, if you as a writer want to engineer John's change of heart, that's how you should do it. Invent a scenario where John's beliefs are shaken, and perhaps have him pursue the resulting questions himself, and learn the truth on his own terms. In my eyes, that would make John a truly noble, admirable, and yes, realistic character - a man who pursues truth, no matter how much it might hurt to learn, or how comforting lies may seem.

...And now I'm going to abandon thread before the Libertarians show up. Good luck with your story, mate. I'll see you on the other side.

edited 12th Aug '14 6:30:08 PM by Tungsten74

This guy knows what's up.