What else would we have to judge ourselves against? Naturally, we all need perspective and context to figure out where we all line up in the grand scheme of things.
I also think many people can’t resist an opportunity to make themselves feel better by putting someone else down. Why do you think Brittney Spears is still so popular? She’s America’s new emotional punching bag for every woman she made feel fat or ugly while she was on top of the world, in her prime, being every man’s fantasy.
Now it’s payback time.
I think from an evolutionary standpoint, being able to differentiate someone who was different in a bad was good for the social group since only the strongest survived. Of course, we’re past that now, but it was certainly worth mentioning.