The essence of the rant (which I agree with) is that it's not about the language, it's about the culture associated with it. You can write horribly structured

The essence of the rant (which I agree with) is that it's not about the language, it's about the culture associated with it. You can write horribly structured code in C, probably more easily than in C++. And some people do. But most C programmers read K&R at some point, or maybe even some Linux kernel code, and so they end up valuing a style that emphasizes clarity and simplicity. If anything, the sheer easiness of shooting yourself with C puts on a Darwinian pressure that causes long-term C developers to either adopt this culture or switch to something else.