I think this sentiment underestimates the amount of work people do on existing codebases.

The most reviled languages are often previously loved languages that made writing code easier at the cost of reading and understanding it.

Team 1 secretes reams of instant legacy code, but get money and promotions for shipping it. Team 42 gets handed a steaming pile of manure that is beyond understanding. They then pick up the pitchforks because it is obviously the language's fault.

So, yeah, it isn't the language so much as the average incentives and behaviors around development.