Biased, or well informed?

In that specific position probably leaning more towards biased than towards well-informed, though both components likely do exist.

It's not well-paid enough to be immune to kool-aid etc, and it's not on the sociopathic management level either, so we can expect a certain degree of very human rationalization going on.

How would being high paid help make you immune to kool aid? In my experience in low paid work, it’s a lot easier to hate the company…

Being paid well enough gives the mind an out from cognitive dissonance that doesn't involve actually believing the company narrative.

It offers the compelling counter-narrative of "yes, we're evil, but hell yeah this is lucrative af". That makes the ego even happier, as in that story, one is the clever mastermind playing the system, so we can reasonably assume that that path will be taken.

If that path is unavailable, and cognitive dissonance sets in, the other path left is actually drinking the kool-aid. The corp must be nice, after all.

(This all assumes that people do in fact want to do good and have a conscience, but for those that doesn't apply to, there's the sociopathy path as mentioned in the previous comment. Reality is slightly more murky and dynamic, but I'd argue that this rough if-ladder exists as described.)

Have you ever talked to people with a low paying job?

Yes, I find it a lot more pleasant than most of this industry.

Also outright dishonest to not add that as a disclaimer!

>> During my career there

I certainly read that as "there" being the town, not the actual data center!

" I remember we hired a local who'd grown up in the town and he was "really surprised" when he started to see what we were doing to remain efficient"

That makes it very clear he was an employee of Google working at the data center.

Same, but revisiting it with context, it does seem mostly obvious enough.

Written communication is hard

He specifically said he worked there. Did you think perhaps he possibly worked for the outsourced cleaning crew?

The use of the word "we" seems pretty clear to me.