What Low Elo Players don't understand is that Meta isn't even for low skilled players.
Because, quiet frankly, we Low Elo Players don't have the SKILL for Meta.
Meta is squeezing the absolute most out of Synergies between Champions and Comp. If you don't even run a Composition, Meta means nothing to you. Just because you pick 5 Champions that are popular in Pro Play right now, doesn't mean you 'made a meta', because they each may belong to DIFFERENT COMPS.
Pick Kog, because he's Meta. But then don't have a Lulu and CC for 'Protect the Kog' and see how it works. You'll be left wondering why YOUR Kog doesn't get big and buff and kill everyone like in the LCS. Hmm, maybe because Top and Jungle picked for a Chase Comp, why your Support picked for a Poke Comp and your Mid picked for a Disengage Comp... which leads you with what exactly? Absolutely nothing close to Meta.
Same thing for Pro Builds. If you suck at following up an Ability with an Auto... then why use a Sheen Item? You're just wasting it. You need to slap an Auto after every Ability for Sheen Items to really rock.
What good are Mobility Boots if you aren't using them to Roam?
I don't care that you read it in a guide, that's from some one skilled enough to pull it off and maximize the value of the Items to the Kit of the Champ to the Composition of the Team.
So those "Meta or Die" people are simply to dumb to realize they can't even pull off the Meta. Once you start moving up, then Meta starts mattering more, and at the highest level it's the rare team that can trump with a Non-Meta.
Also, they seem to forget that Meta is ever changing. Each Patch brings a new Meta, a new shift as the new strengths and weaknesses patched in cause a major change in the game.
You know what the Most Effective Meta in Low Elo is? 5 Players, on their Best Champions in their Best Roles, Communicating and working together.
THAT is your Meta, and it beats anything in Low Elo you might have seen on Twitch.TV.