Humans prefer excellence, most of the time at least.

Out of all the hypocrisies I see in the world, the elevation of the common person is, well?  It's on my list at least.  

Generally speaking, humans have a preference for the better if not the best, in who they admire.  Now yes.  There is that book out there about how the world is basically run by mediocre men.  Well if you buy into the idea that middle managers actually run the world?  Yeah.  That might thrill you.  But there are more middle management jobs than there are gifted people, and the gifted people should rise about that station, if they really are gifted.  You don't get on the cover of Forbes by being an assistant vice president in charge of the same jerk water corporate department for ten years straight.

And yes, we just got over four years of a sub mediocrity as POTUS.  Apparently millions of Americans  love him. He is the greatest outlier to my theory.  But generally?

Ten thousand years of mostly feudal sort of rule of the species is the baseline.  Beyond the invention and perpetuation of birthright rule?  People either got or got to stay in charge because they were good in battle. And if they relied too heavily on others to command in the field, they at least were good at staying alive, and staying the boss.  Remember.  Back in the old days, and most of days are the old days?  The one battle you lost was often your last.  So winners stayed in or seized power.

And in the modern age we have, as a species, learned to not only worship gods, royals, and generals.  We have learned to worship excellence, or at least accomplishment.   We did it for people in the arts first. Then we started worshiping athletes.  And I must note the related to the ex POTUS anomaly, of worshiping people for being famous.  At best that is worship of the veneer of excellence, as opposed to the actual accomplishing of anything to merit notice.

So is this newish worship of the fugazy going to eclipse worship for those who actually get shit done?   I think both trends will continue.  But it is as easy to get bored of the fugazy as the former star who isn't producing like they used to.  After all.  Fugazies and has beens  are just dead common.  Amirite?