C is the hardware language N°1 of the high-level languages. If you actually want to know and control what happens in the machine, you write in C. Rust, C++ and all the other abstractions are for people who do not understand how computers and computer memory work.
This is a misconception that's common among beginner C programmers. They think C is high level assembly and don't understand the kinds of optimisations modern compilers make. And they think they're hardcore and don't make mistakes.
even if you write in assembly, you still may not actually understand what is going on in the machine since processors convert the instructions to "micro-ops", and let's not forget hardware bugs like those caused by speculative execution
I’ve written programs in C. I’ve written programs in assembly, for x86 and for microcontrollers. I’ve designed digital logic and programmed it into an FPGA. I’ve built digital logic circuits with transistors.
I’ll still take Go over C any day of the week. If I’m doing embedded, I’ll use TinyGo.
Programming languages are tools. I couldn't care less about learning a new tool just for the sake of learning. My interest in learning tools is exclusively practical - if they help me do my work better.
I find functional languages interesting, but that's because I find the underlying theory interesting and worth learning for its own sake, not because I actually care about the specific language it's written in. Even then these days I'd rather learn about woodworking (which is currently my main hobby) than a programming paradigm I'm probably never going to use.