Tactically, I doubt this attempt at outrage will be very effective. There is a widespread implicit understanding that equitability and meritability compete for

Tactically, I doubt this attempt at outrage will be very effective. There is a widespread implicit understanding that equitability and meritability compete for the same resources, so X positions are distributed on equity and (1-X) positions are distributed on merit. The real arguments are over the value of X, and they are made in two usual forms: “We should be a meritocracy” i.e.”X should be zero” i.e. push X lower, and “We should be equitable” i.e. “X should be 1” i.e. push X higher. There is also something I think of as the “personal ideal state” exemption: everyone has some personal ideal for how the distribution should look, which determines whether they support meritocracy, equitability, or apathy in a given scenario at a given time.