2 good friends of mine have played non meta specs since I met them in legion (feral and enhance) and have always been able to get into groups for +20s.

I totally believe that, and I 100% believe that playing a non-meta spec becomes easier the better of a player you are. Not only are you going to be grouping with people who are looking beyond your spec, you're going to have higher experience/r.io than anyone doing mid/low tier content so they will also want you regardless of your spec.

but it seems a lot of the community has decided for shadowlands that they care more about fun than meta

I guess that's fair, but I in my opinion it sets unrealistic expectations. And you'll end up with people asking why it takes an hour to join a group and why they keep getting declined. And then the same people who were saying "your spec doesn't matter" are going to be saying "run with friends or join a guild for consistent groups".

Playing a meta spec will visibly impact your pugging experience, especially for heroic raiding and M+ between 5-15.