# Why are the super-rich idolized by so many? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 14, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-super-rich-idolized-by-so-many/782185 "2017-03-14T18:53:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-super-rich-idolized-by-so-many/782185/41 "2017-03-20T05:36:25Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Well, with finite resources and huge demand efficiency is important. In a multidimensional world solving that problem is hard. One method is competition. > > And I don’t think aboriginals of any sort were non competitive. Nobody said they’re non-competitive. Just that they value cooperation over competition as a quality to admire. Resources may be finite but there’s more than enough for everyone. In aboriginal cultures there isn’t ever this situation where one guy who’s a really good hunter takes home all the deer he kills for himself and piles them up in a stack he can never finish while old women in the village starve to death. It just isn’t even imaginable in that culture. He would be considered mentally ill, not successful. ---
**Author:** ![Firebreather1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47c2d/32.png) [@Firebreather1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firebreather1)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-super-rich-idolized-by-so-many/782185/42 "2017-03-20T05:36:31Z")
Who says they are? In our last election cycle, both major party candidates harshly criticized Wall Street billionaires and figures for their excesses in recent years to show the working class that they truly cared about them, and these voters, mostly in the Rust Belt, believed Trump more than Clinton evidently. Anyway, there are certainly some rich people who are idolized like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and the like, but that’s mostly because of their philanthropic giving as well as their technological contributions to society through the inventions of Facebook, Microsoft, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-super-rich-idolized-by-so-many/782185/43 "2017-03-20T05:45:45Z")
Yeah, I’d like to know exactly (or even roughly) how many people “idolize” the super-rich. The OP claims that “so many” do this, but offers no evidence. That seems to never stop posters here from assuming the OP knows what he is talking about. One wonders why? > [@Crazyhorse](#): > > No, it’s not bullshit that particularly American, and to a great extent all modern cultures, encourage competition over cooperation and places those who scrap their way to the top on a pedestal. > > I could dig up countless cites to argue that thesis in addition to those I have provided but this is IMHO not GD and you can’t win arguments here by demanding cites while providing none of your own. My opinion is my opinion and that is my cite. You are arguing with nothing but your opinion too, which is a less credible cite than my opinion, in my opinion. Folk-sociology is apparently alive and well. The Noble Savage was an idea from several hundreds years ago that has debunked so many times since then it’s hard to believe anyone still believes that crap. It’s cute when teenagers spout it; sad when adults do. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-super-rich-idolized-by-so-many/782185/44 "2017-03-20T06:37:57Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yeah, I’d like to know exactly (or even roughly) how many people “idolize” the super-rich. The OP claims that “so many” do this, but offers no evidence. That seems to never stop posters here from assuming the OP knows what he is talking about. One wonders why? > > Folk-sociology is apparently alive and well. The Noble Savage was an idea from several hundreds years ago that has debunked so many times since then it’s hard to believe anyone still believes that crap. It’s cute when teenagers spout it; sad when adults do. How many people admire Ayn Rand’s philosophy or gawk at the Forbes billionaire list with a sense of envy and admiration? You can’t calculate a number but enough to demonstrate a shift in our cultural values over many generations. I never mentioned Noble Savages, you’re extrapolating something from a really simple comparison to aboriginal culture to demonstrate greed, and admiration of the rich, is a cultural trait and not a basic human characteristic as evidenced by the fact that it wasn’t present in basic human cultures. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-super-rich-idolized-by-so-many/782185.md?page=2)