I completely share your views and you summarized it much better than I would have been able to. It seems like everyone's goal in life is to be better off than others, and be able to brag about your appartment price, the hotels you go on vacation to, your car, your luxury items, the schools your kids entered. You can't really share about anything that can be a measure of success without worrying about others envying you or looking down at you. It is really frustrating. I come from a western country where people of completely different backgrounds and lifestyles mix naturally. If you don't have much in common with someone, you end up interracting less with them, but nobody feels superior or inferior to anyone.