Once it's known that a person has money, they will be hounded by scam artists, thieves, and people that just want money for nothing. After awhile, it's not surprising that they get defensive, which can be seen as being 'mean'.<p>This entire article is painting rich people as assholes. This seems to be a common theme, especially on the Internet. If I'm painted as a rich asshole long enough, I will just become one.<p>I'm not rich, but I make a good living. I've had family members try to take advantage of me and just assume I should pay for X or Y because why not, I have extra money..right? I'm seen as the asshole for refusing.<p>A nice, rich person will eventually become a poor person because too many people in this world will try to take advantage of them.
Humans are also wired to be less forgiving to those who are going through struggles that they themselves have crossed - this could be the reason behind the rich person deriding someone in need for being poor and not working hard enough