I'm sure that's a plausible, widespread interpretation of heroism.
What I'm suggesting in this series (the other two articles are linked below) is that there's a water-down, exoteric meaning of heroic tales, and there's an esoteric, subliminal self-congratulatory one. The inequality between the lives lived in different social classes is real and practically universal.
But because the lower classes are charmed by the idea of heroism, we appropriate the myths that apply strictly to the upper class to ourselves. We dilute them, just as we set up our lesser version of their riches (the mass-produced fashions and lifestyle that are supposed to approximate the heaven on earth enjoyed only by the top one percent). Trickle-down wealth indeed.
We do the same thing with religious myths since originally they applied only to royalty who were identified with the highest gods. To keep the peace, even the lower class got its gods and its ennobling spiritual mission.
So it's a question of mimesis, of learning from the wealthy and copying what they're doing.
