It is not just the "hustle" people don't like. People view their employees as sexist bigots. All the smart companies don't want people from that culture.
[0] https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/11/zenefits-under-investigati...
It's about putting a "merit"ocracy in place that encourages people to backstab and generally act like jerks in order to get ahead.
It's about priorities. I'd rather work in a slightly less-profitable company if it didn't have a toxic work environment.
I don't know why you put meritocracy in quotes, because that's what it is. The merits that are rewarded just so happen to be acting like jerks. In general society that is not a merit; but in the company it is a merit therefore Uber is a meritocracy.
The example is from original article by susan who started current backslash.
A system that encourages people to backstab to get ahead is effectively just a medeival court, in which employees act as petty nobles jostling for the king/boss's approval.
Merit implies a quality of being good, or otherwise praiseworthy. Being a backstabbing misogynist dickbag gets you ahead at Uber but I would not describe you as worthy of merit.
If you can keep your bro-ness under wraps for 4 hours for the interview, you can get hired at a company with a reasonable culture and that will continue to mold and shape you, just like any other community influence to which you are consistently exposed.
I'm not making a judgment about "ought to be" just "is".
As much as that makes sense, it's also interesting considering that TFA makes it sound like people are leaving because of their dislike of that culture. And having trouble because they're being associated to the thing their fleeing.