On Aristocracy

I find it almost a running gag in the fandom to portray the Noble Class of Equestria as Stuck-up, Shallow, Ineffective, petty, manipulative people. Now obviously this has grounding IRL, as Nobility for the majority of the European nations from Medieval times to the end of WWII were petty, shallow, ineffective, manipulative, or some combination thereof. But even then there were many exceptions: Bismark, Elizabeth, a good chunk of Prussia, and those just off the top of my head.

Problem: This is not the Nobility we've been exposed to in FiM. In FiM, what little we've seen of the Nobility is Stuck up, Shallow, but also well meaning and rather easily manipulated class. Keep in mind most of the top dogs in Canterlot spent their time following around a single pony, who happens to be the one Noble who's depicted Favorably by every fanfic author to date. We never saw any plotting or scheming, and one Noble even offhandedly throws a charity. A Charity! Most of the Fanfic!Nobles I've seen would never do such a thing. And when we did see them stick their noses up at the ponyvillians, it was because they were party crashing a royal event.

We DO get one asshole by the name of Blueblood, but seeing as Rarity was dating him for his status and assumed traits as opposed to any sort of real affection, I'd say neither party came off as very nice in this case.

So in conclusion, The Nobles of Equestria can be judgmental and shallow, but they're not all grade-A, Xanatos gambiting, ineffective dicks. And I don't think we should be assuming such based of one guy and a very old human stereotype.