And 80% of your merit came from posting about... merit.
...
no kidding...that is precisely what I am talking about...in another merit-based thread, I made a mocking post about my rapid merit increase since I started posting about merit ....I have made it a special point to be as crass and repugnant as possible in my comments, to avoid unfairly picking up merit simply for posting about merit, and because I see it as a "kiss the ring and you can advance" system...which I find disgusting...it has probably cost me many ignores...o well, cant educate those who plug their ears...perhaps in all of my ranting what I am trying to say is that merit should not be given out on the merit threads...it is laughably circular
Meh... 75% of my merit came from either helping people out or providing some entertainment value* while 25% has come from posting about merit in meta, which I can't help but find entirely apropos (that is, talking about merit in meta, which is itself meta, hence why the subforum is called meta). So I would say I am both an example of what you claim - that lots of merit can be obtained by talking about merit - as well as a counterexample, in that 3/4th of my merit has not come from talking about merit.
And FWIW, I was definitely conflicted about posting my perspective on merit the first few times for the exact reason you find so repugnant - I did not want to be involved in a circle jerk of meriting, either, just from talking about merit. However it appears I have since taken a different path from you in that I am not actively trying to annoy people to not get merit (nor am I actively courting high ranking members or merit sources to get merit). To quote from Vince Vaughn's character in that epic comedy, Dodgeball, "I've found that if you have a goal, that you might not reach it. But if you don't have one, then you are never disappointed. And I gotta tell ya... it feels phenomenal."
* - that said, I was honestly surprised I got a merit for my recent, "meat popsicle" comment, but hey, if someone found it funny and had merit to spare, why not?