Appeal to Wealth/Playing With
Basic Trope: The dubious claim that a position or opinion is correct because it's supported by the rich and/or famous.
- Straight: An opinion gains support among the middle and lower classes because they've heard that the nobles support that idea.
- Exaggerated: Everything that the wealthy classes claim an opinion on is accepted as fact and adopted by the lower classes, from who to vote for to what breakfast cereal to eat.
- Justified:
- The wealthy have access to more resources and better education, so they have a better chance of being right -- or, at least, having enough influence to ensure that they can convince others that they're right.
- People are trying to fool others into thinking they are rich by acting like them.
- Inverted: Dagger holds that anything the wealthy say or do is automatically wrong.
- Subverted: A concept is whole-heartedly adopted by the lower classes because the wealthy have adopted it, but they soon realize how wrong the wealthy are and rally against it.
- Double Subverted:
- But that was only short term thinking. If they had looked only a week ahead, they would have realized that they just had to get through the difficult part of adjusting.
- The wealthy people tell them to stop goofing around, and they unthinkingly stop their rallying against the wealthy.
- Parodied: A wealthy person suggests doing something so obviously ludicrous that his fellows immediately look out the window to see the poorer people doing it, just to amuse themselves.
- Deconstructed: It soon appears that the rich are the only people taken seriously, so the poor aped them in hopes of getting some respect.
- Reconstructed: The real problem is that the poor ape their superficial traits, such as clothing color; the poor who copy them in insisting their children study at school, buying high-quality articles that last forever, and saving soon find they are not poor.
- Zig Zagged: The poorer people are selective about whether or not they unthinkingly believe or disbelieve the richer people, and their selections have no basis on anything other than apparent capriciousness.
- Averted: A rich man's opinion isn't taken any more seriously than a poor one's.
- Enforced: The writer's put the trope in the story because his rich investors told him to do so.
- Lampshaded: A poor person said: "Why does everyone listen to the rich people? Huh? Because they have money? What? But that's just nonsensical, can't you see that?"
- Invoked: Lord Myron uses this to his advantage by leading other nobles to support each other, arguing that they automatically know what's best for the country thanks to their Blue Blood.
- Defied: While the appeal is made, everyone refuses to listen to it.
- Discussed: Two characters note how Lord Myron's statements are always taken as facts, and suggest that this Trope is in action.
- Conversed: A character says: "Don't you ever watch the movies? The rich guy is always held to be right, just because he's rich."
- Plotted A Good Waste: ???
- Played For Laughs: A McDonald's employee walks into a homeless shelter where he becomes their king.
- Played For Drama: Serious harm is done when a wealthy person spreads false opinions and prejudices among the poorer people in this fashion, leading to them doing terrible things because they think the wealthy person is unquestionably right.
- Back to Appeal to Wealth