The problem is that the hostility has no target. That's exactly the problem. It's hostility in virtue of the climb of a ficticious hierarchy, albeit a pragmatic-utilitarian one, which fails to acknowledge the socio-political and historical context in which it emerged, not to mention the outmoded economic, peculiar institution that made it possible.

To be clear? Slavery made most of America's economic infrastructure possible. The subjugation of women made America's economic infrastructure possible. The Internet was born out of those economic foundations. There is no meritocracy in a vacuum.

Not to be too reductionist, but I believe a big narrative may help here: It's like when some bully barges in on a group of kids playing a new game unknown to the bully. The bully calls its friends over, and they all demand that scores be kept and aggression be matched. Yet they fail to understand that the game could be played just as well without the contrivance.