playBunny: You may be right, we all be wrong. It is a question of generation. Please don't charge me to be nostalgic from my youth :-). BUT! I am absolutely not jealous. But! Rating is good as you explain though also bad due to the fact many (not all) are prone to cheat in order to protect this meaningless stuff.
Therefore I maintain: rating is a poison as is money.
The nickname of chess (and his variant I suppose) is "The noble game" because (I was teached to know) his (or was?) the pleasure to play is self-sufficient.
I dream, if all of us could think and play as you say, we were all intelligent and wise.
But as I can see actually, rating prone an horrible greediness. And greediness conducts to poor behaviour.

As you say we are all wrong, because we (me included of course!) are not wise. Could we strive toward a wise behaviour? "I have a dream..." said someone, follow my eyes ;-).

Signed an old drone :-)))