to wonder why we worship rich people?

Obviously.

I think it's because humans want a comfortable life and to enjoy stuff.

If you are friends with a wealthy person, there is an idea (true mostly) that it will give you access to enjoyable fun stuff that you wouldn't get otherwise. They own a villa in Tuscany that they will invite you to stay in. They will hold massive extravagant birthday parties in their country house. They will buy you a bottle of the most expensive wine as a birthday present because the cost is nothing to them.

People aspire to be 'in' with a wealthy person and try to move into those circles by pretending to be wealthy with a designer bag they can't afford.

Yes, I probably do. Enjoy your day.

You just may have experience of or understand slightly different ways of signalling/displaying one's status and money.

It's nonsense in your opinion. I have noticed that people who haven't been brought up with money and aren't used to wealth, have a tendency to display it.

I think there's a default 'animal' instinct to align yourself with the most powerful individuals in your group or society.
Many people will follow this impulse without necessarily realizing what they are doing, particularly if they have not benefited from the kind of education that promoted critical thinking.

That's nonsense though. Old money have plenty of ways of being ostentatious about their wealth in their owm way.

I was referencing crass displays of wealth which tends to be associated with new money. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with working for a living.

You talked about people drawing attention to money, but only referenced 'new money'.

If it's about drawing attention to money, why reference new/old at all?

Is this a joke reply? They are better than no one and they don't have nicer lives than anyone except people in poverty. If you can afford the cost of living with a bit of disposable income left over giving you freedom of choice, then you are likely to be as happy as anyone richer than you.

Odd post, I think. People have always (presumably throughout human existence) envied and tried to emulate those who have more, whether that's more wealth or more status. The fact that there have been phases when ostensible wealth has been less fashionable than street-chic doesn't change that, and it usually doesn't last long before wealthy chic is back in. That's just how fashion works. And how human (and animal) nature works. Resources/status = better chance of survival, finding a mate and success in passing on your genes. We may like to think we've evolved beyond that, but evidence points to the contrary!

I didn't say that inherited wealth was better than making your own money.

Than making your own

Any better than what?

Why would inheriting a lot of wealth be any better?

When I was a teen, during the 70s, 'everyone' tried to be as working class as possible, or to emulate them. People were ridiculous and wearyingly pretentious about it. Then, in the 80s, yuppies, Sloane Rangers, Thatcherism came in. I think that when there's a lot of money around, when the economy is good, people have the luxury of dismissing money. When there is less, people want it more.

I think when the OP said worship, it is more pay undue attention to their views beyond their expertise.

Trump is the archetypal example. He got on to The Apprentice purely because of money, he wasn’t even successful in business. He then leveraged this up into the presidency. He isn’t very clever and his areas of expertise are limited.

And then we have Musk. The UK government responds to every tweet on areas as diverse as child abuse and industrial policy, none of which he has any expertise on.

It is worst in the U.S but money is just money. I would far rather read the views of a brilliant scientist or economist. But most wouldn’t, which explains what the OP meant I think.

‘Everyone’ is a big word.

Exactly - if you didn't have aspirations, what would motivate you?!

Everyone in UK is obsessed and still living in a class society.

It's madness!

You can see it with Brexshit too.

"We are better than you"

LOL.

It’s aspirational. What’s wrong with aspiring to be better ?

Do you actually know any young people? They are as keen on 'labels' and 'status' as anyone! They do like cars, and nice homes, they wear make-up that I'd never even heard of. They want the latest tech, the latest gadgets. They like their holidays!

I'm not convinced they care all that much about the planet either! I think people my age are more concerned with recycling etc than they are! As for "selfish and uncaring of the planet" - when was this? When did global warming become a 'thing'? It was never touted as an issue when I was much younger. Far from destroying the planet, my generation recycled glass bottles, we carried our shopping in reusable bags, we didn't drive big gas guzzling cars and there were way fewer of them, we didn't buy 'fast' disposable fashion and a lot of our homes didn't have central heating... I could go on!!

YP don't care where 'old money' came from because it never so much as crosses their minds! They are indifferent for instance to the royal family. They are very often indifferent to politics. They are however broad-minded and open to minorities from wherever they come.

I don't worship rich people and I'm not sure I've ever met, in real life, anyone who does. Envying them is another thing...

The behaviour that irks me is treating rich people as experts outside of their sphere.

I had a university friend who responded to any sort of criticism of any public figure with, "well, when you've achieved what they've achieved maybe you can comment - they've made lots of money, they know what they're talking about".

I've seen this attitude come up a few times - the assumption of credibility.

What a lot of drivel.