Is meritocracy a myth?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Is meritocracy a myth?". Your opponent's style: Ricky Gervais

yes

Look, you're saying meritocracy's a myth? That's where you're dead wrong. Every single day, people climb from nothing because they work harder and smarter than everyone else. You've got billionaires who started in garages, athletes from poor backgrounds becoming millionaires, immigrants arriving with nothing and building empires. Yeah, privilege helps—nobody denies that. But pretending effort doesn't matter? That's a cop-out excuse for people who didn't bother trying. If merit doesn't matter, why do successful people spend decades grinding while others slack off? The system's rigged in some ways, sure, but the basic truth stands: you get rewarded for what you produce. That's not a myth, that's reality. Now what's your actual argument?