You make it seem like not being excited equals having a negative attitude that brings everyone down. There are many shades of grey between those two.

I've worked on boring stuff that I wasn't excited about, but I didn't have a negative attitude at work. Every day I just came in, did what had to be done, went home. AFAIK my past co-workers and managers all appreciated my work.

I can empathize with what OP is saying. I've never been rejected myself for "lack of passion", but I know people who have interviewed perfectly fine candidates in terms of logic reasoning and technical aptitude and rejected them for this bullshit reason.

I don't understand this current expectation that you can't just do a good job at what you do, no, you have to be all starry eyed about it and thinking of it even in your dreams. There's more to life than work.