First of all, being a Hero Member doesn't mean that they deserve more respect than any other rank. It just indicates the length of time that they've been on the forums.

Secondly, just being able to write and speak English isn't enough to earn Merits. If that was the case, then every single one of my posts should be merited.

I believe that the reason @TMAN referenced @nullius' posts is because they are relevant to the context of the topics that he/she decides to post in. Take a look at his/her posts, and look at the context of the topic. Spot on, and a great example of how newbies and low-ranked members should be posting.

And for the record, I've merited posts that weren't extremely proficient in English; my merits are based on what I find to be valuable to the Bitcointalk community AND to the given topic of discussion. I could actually give a shit less about how good someone's English is, as long as I know that they're putting forth a good effort to contribute here.