As somebody who uses both, I don’t understand the whole territorial conflicts in this space. Any C programmer can learn a ton by the paradigm Rust uses. Even if Rust would fade into oblivion tomorrow, the lessons I learned by using it will remain valueable enough for me not to regret having learned it.
C is always going to be needed, given the size of the codebase and the amount of embedded stuff written in it. It comes – however – with a waggon full of dangerous traps and gotchas and in practise very few people are good enough to always avoid them or mitigate the risks created by them. I don’t see any reason why C shouldn’t get better in these areas for the benefit of everyone involved.
I can relate to this, it is not unreasonable for me.
I've noticed the younger people are the more likely they are to be passionate, which I put down mainly to not knowing any better. Once one has more of the experience that places you higher up where you can see further, suddenly one's own plot of land doesn't seem so special.
