It can be said, but I disagree that the statement has the same significance either way. Of course you can hypnotize yourself about startup environments too - I was just commenting on this (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=237891). But nearly all the enormous pressure of social conformity is on the other side, so the hypnotic pull of the corporate mainstream has no counterpart here. Many people believe they have no choice but to work at a corporate job. Far fewer believe they have no choice but to work at a startup.

Also, we're not talking about having a startup job. We're talking about founding a startup around something you yourself find creatively fulfilling, something that is worth eating ramen for. That's a big difference. Eating ramen to fulfill somebody else's dream (and I've done that) doesn't feel very good. We're talking about being free to do work of one's own - and to own one's work.