Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ehh... the reductio of this argument is writing everything in assembler (libc? giant hunk of third party code right there). I surmise that, by comparison, the blowback you encountered was relatively minor.
No, not writing everything in assembler, this isn't about high or low level. It's about writing things yourself for what you actually need. Because most of the complexity comes from code (esp. libraries and drivers) trying to solve a larger problem than you actually have. That's the same reason why, when you follow that logic, you eventually write your own Forth. Not because it fun. Not because you want to learn abou…
See also: Emacs, the ultimate customizer's editor, easily shapeable to your particular needs -- and currently losing badly to Visual Studio Code which is only readily customized with configuration options and third-party packages. When you need to pair or mob, having a common toolset and vocabulary beats having a special-snowflake environment.