Evil (VIM emulation mode in Emacs) does not in any way behave like a second-class citizen. I use evil every single day and it's fantastic.

Emacs is a text editor, yes, among other things.

If anyone is reading this who hasn't tried Emacs, don't let takes like this spoil you giving Emacs a try. Doom Emacs is a fantastic experience to get started but there are more minimal starter kits that give you just evil-mode to start.