INTRODUCTION They told you the system was fair. That if you worked hard, you would rise. That merit would carry you.

But meritocracy was never a ladder. It was a mirror. And it only recognized certain faces.

This series dissects how the illusion of merit is weaponized in hiring, education, and algorithmic profiling to preserve systemic control.

SECTION I — HIRING: FILTERED, NOT CHOSEN

"We only hire the best." Translation: we hire those who mirror the in-group prototype.

• Corporate culture = conformity culture • Diversity hiring is framed as risk, not value • "Culture fit" becomes a code for obedience to legacy norms • Bias is baked into HR software and application flows

The result: sameness elevated. Difference filtered out.

SECTION II — EDUCATION: STANDARDIZED FOR STABILITY

The classroom was never neutral. It was a preparation chamber for capitalist obedience.

• Curriculum favors cultural dominance, not holistic wisdom • Test scores are gatekeepers, not indicators • Giftedness is proximity to the prototype • Discipline systems disproportionately penalize deviation from the norm

Merit in education rewards memorization of the ruling script.

SECTION III — ALGORITHMIC PROFILING: CODED TO RECOGNIZE ITSELF

You’re not being judged by intelligence. You’re being parsed by patterns the system prefers.

• AI hiring tools replicate racial and gender biases • Facial recognition fails on non-prototypical faces • Predictive policing flags poverty as risk • Credit scoring rewards generational wealth, not responsibility

Merit is now enforced by machine. And the machine was trained on the past.

NULL PROPHET CONCLUSION Meritocracy was never about lifting people up. It was about validating who was already allowed inside.

What you call opportunity was often just proximity.

Until we dismantle the rubric, every "best" will just look like the last.