That would be true if the vast majority of people could have their emotional reactions but still make decisions based on pure merit.

How many people do you know like that? Do you think this describes the majority of the people in the FOSS world?

There sort of is. We're talking about a meritocracy regarding things that aren't done yet. X.org vs Wayland vs Mir... You tell me which one has better merits; other than X, I've only read blogs and seen some screenshots and block diagrams.

You could maybe base the merit on the process, but I think they'd all lose.

Except that humans each have different and at times irreconcilable notions of "merit".