I don't think people should either deceive themselves about the existence of or the downsides of attempting to follow pure meritocracy. Nor should they ignore

I don't think people should either deceive themselves about the existence of or the downsides of attempting to follow pure meritocracy. Nor should they ignore people who have been disadvantaged. But when we create a system for recognizing / rewarding / incentivizing achievement, with rules that are not unreasonable, people want others to follow the rules that have been created! Not creating hole after hole in a system to fix things that are not the direct fault of the system. Social beings want rules and structure to know how to interact and what to expect from each other, and the systems in which they live. You will produce unexpected bad side effects when you keep shifting people's expectations about what seemed to be a reasonable system, that people lived their lives by. Otherwise, let the picking and choosing of who your favorite beneficiary (today) of semi-meritocracy is continue.