I eventually concluded that people don't actually want meritocracy. They just use the word when it happens to suit them. For example, no one would want to have

I eventually concluded that people don't actually want meritocracy. They just use the word when it happens to suit them. For example, no one would want to have their salary decreased based on current performance. Yet it would be meritocratic. A true meritocracy would be perceived by most people as a cold psychopathic dystopia.