I hear this all the time. It is meant to somehow be proof that the meritocracy is real.
I think it mostly has to do with people feeling threatened that you are taking something away from them by suggestion that "hard work" isn't actually the key to success that people pretend it is. As if you are accusing them of cheating. Or maybe people are still steaming about lazy co-workers they had somewhere down a few rungs on the ladder. Either way, it is not at all relevant.
Imagine for a second that each number stands for a kind of person. 1s are people that have worked really hard and have been rewarded with upward mobility; they have "pulled themselves up by their bootstraps." (Ignore for a second that no one ever does this all by themselves.) 2s are people that are rich but don't work very hard, and so on.
When people claim that they belong to group 1, and that that somehow proves we live in a meritocracy, what they are saying is "If there is anyone who is a 1, then the meritocracy is real." But that's not true. We only have a meritocracy if groups 2 and 3 don't exist. There can be a handful of people in group 1, and of course, there is. But there is a TON of people in groups 2 and 3 as well. As a social worker, I work everyday with people in group 3. Most of our country is actually inhabited by group 3.
And, to be even clearer, groups 2 and 3 don't just exist, they are essential for Capitalism. Profit is only made by exploiting surplus labor; that is, people need to be made to work harder then they get paid for (group 3). In fact, most of the people who are actually producing value for society are not considered "successful."
So next time someone pulls this out don't argue with them about whether its true or not. Just explain to them that that doesn't actually matter.
