Person 1 is available now, and by just listening to you affirms that you matter, and that your problems are important, and the fact of your suffering matters to someone other than you. It may resonate with their own experience, maybe even something they didn't reveal because of shame or guilt, in which case both people are helped.
Person 2 is first of all, hard to find, unavailable, and extremely expensive. They don't know you, and in general aren't willing to share their own personal experiences with you. The interaction with Person 2 is transactional and does nothing to affirm the importance of your suffering to someone other than yourself.
It's a little like your suggesting to have sex with a prostitute because they're better at it. But that misses the point of what sex is even for. A lot of the time we just want to be assured that we matter, that our experience matters, and that we aren't alone. But yeah, a lot of people see it like you do, and I think that makes it a worse culture.
Person 2 is first of all, hard to find, unavailable, and extremely expensive. They don't know you, and in general aren't willing to share their own personal experiences with you. The interaction with Person 2 is transactional and does nothing to affirm the importance of your suffering to someone other than yourself.
It's a little like your suggesting to have sex with a prostitute because they're better at it. But that misses the point of what sex is even for. A lot of the time we just want to be assured that we matter, that our experience matters, and that we aren't alone. But yeah, a lot of people see it like you do, and I think that makes it a worse culture.