The commenter points out that the cynicism towards the term 'meritocracy' is actually a part of the very birth of the term into the English language, which is a

The commenter points out that the cynicism towards the term 'meritocracy' is actually a part of the very birth of the term into the English language, which is a very good point. 'Meritocracy' possibly creates another class based system, just defined in the terms of whoever is responsible for defining what 'merit' is. I believe that in general 'meritocracy' is a good thing, I don't think we should be fundamentally cynical about it ... but the OP's comment is definitely relevant.