The danger of unmooring treatment from merit is that it inculcates an entitlement, low-confidence, fragile superiority mentality instead of a performance, accomplishment one. Plus, no one with self-respect would want to be advanced over more qualified people solely because of their attributes. And, it doesn't help advance equity for all and collectively-punishes those who don't happen to be micro-minority enough. Affirmative action, diversity, and other such biases policies are the factual definition of -ist/-isms with a pendulum the other way by exhaustive exclusion of all but one or two groups.

Want a just society? Stick to merit, shun hate, and minimize bias.