On the other hand, maybe some people are interested in a type of reading/writing but that doesn't mean they could do it themselves.
Like last night I watched the writer Jia Tolentino interview Chanel Miller (the woman who was raped by Brock Turner, if you're familiar with the case.) Watching Jia think in real time is magical to me. Her writing, too, is at times incisive, at others deeply personal, sometimes indignant or marveling or both, and can still pull back to culture/society level relevance.
I would say that the best of Jia's longform writing is among the best narrative non-fiction being written today.
Is there a part of me that wants to be able to do that? i.e. am I a wannabe? I mean, kind of, but I also really enjoy it and that's more the point. I enjoy Ren Hang's photography but am not trying to be a photographer. I enjoy helping founders but don't have much desire to found another company.
We don't _have_ to assume that everyone who enjoys something only says that they do because they are status-obsessed and lazy.
EDIT:
Another example I would give is Daniel Day Lewis. Good god the length he goes to to method act; the almost terrifying commitment. And it fucking pays off. But do I want that life? Hell no. Because I'm lazy? Maybe if I wanted that life then work ethic would be a question, but what disqualifies my trying to be Daniel Day Lewis in the first place is that I don't want to make the trade-offs he does — even if I could.