It's not meant to be a critique of historical Buddhism as a whole, it's meant to be a critique of how Buddhism is often viewed in the West.
And yes, the "superior philosophy" assumption is pretty widespread in the West, especially compared to eg. Islam. I've gotten some very surprised looks when mentioning things like how Kyoto's sohei warrior monks had violent battles between competing temples and regularly extorted both nobility and populace, the role of Buddhism in ultranationalist mob violence in eg. Myanmar [2] and Sri Lanka [3], etc.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%8Dhei
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotic_Association_of_Myanm...