The biggest issue with idolizing people this much in my opinion is that it puts a huge divide between you and that idol.

People have heroes, and heroes do things normal humans can't. That further translates into other parts of life where really terrible things are done by villains and the only ones being able to counter it are those heroes we created.

I don't understand why people fetishize names that much. It's almost as if they are subconsciously saying:

"Given that xyz is so much better than I and he's a genius, I can therefore never hope to reach that goal, so there's no point in trying"

While at the same time consciously saying: "I wish I could be like him"

As the germans say: "Keine Bange, der kocht auch nur mit Wasser"

There's a whole bunch of inventions we accredit to different people than actually did them and we praise them like gods. And there is no rational behind that behavior. Yes, it's still a great achievement, but no it doesn't matter as much as we like to pretend.

On a step further we get to the discussion of what success is. Is success when everyone knows you? Is it when you have a lot of money? If it's all about the money, no european startup will ever be as great as its american counterpart. There's just not as much money.