Another misunderstood term is meritocracy. Some feebly attempt to portray it as a myth.

First, meritocracy has nothing to do with equality and does not maintain that a person's success is owing completely to their own effort.

That is a straw man argument.

Meritocracy is simply the recognition of a person's usage of the raw materials nature and circumstance have provided them. Everyone has been dealt a slightly different hand than everyone else. It is up to us what we do with the hand we were dealt. That is what merit is about.

I suspect that many if not most of those decrying meritocracy are motivated, at least in part by envy.