They likely were, and think of me what you like but I've noticed the same with most Americans I've known. Not sure why that is but apparently there's some good amount of propaganda going on in the USA and people apparently believe it. Meanwhile people have to pay $5000 after an ambulance picks them up. Or $90000 for semi-trivial medical procedures.
I believe asking yourself "is my country really like I believe it is?" is a good food for thought even it's a bit sideways to this here topic at hand.
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On topic:
I can sympathize with the author. I know what it is to have been a long time in a company; it becomes much more than a workplace. You have friends, you even have people you invite to your Sunday barbecues. It's also very likely that a number of internal processes are going smoother for you because you know whom to ping and what exactly to write in a form so your stuff gets done quicker. You have job stability and unless you are rocking the boat too much your seat is likely 99% safe.
All of those become true stoppers when you start pondering leaving. They pull you back and make you doubt yourself and your idea of switching company.
But unlike a number of commenters here I find nothing hypocritical about the decision to go to Twitter. We don't know how Twitter operates internally; maybe it's still better than Google. Or maybe they are still after FAANG level of wages so are ready to make some ethical compromises for them?
In any case, immediately discounting somebody's opinion on a corporation because they joined another corporation misses a lot of context, is flamey and non-constructive and almost smells like a paid troll, and is something I don't expect HN to condone. But sadly, here we go, it's the top comment here.