I also never understood all the hate that Cid and other defectors get..I mean if you are in his shoes would you truly stay in a regime that was fine with constructing these weapons of mass destructions? He saw that magitek was used for wars and probably not that much for the people itself. This is also the reason why he does not want to use it for fighting. That guy probably still has some kind of trauma about the things that he witnessed. A whole place with who knows how many people destroyed by a weapon his father created. Eorzea nearly being completely destroyed by Nael and her followers. And on top of that we also found out that any kind of critisism is not allowed, even through arts. Why should he have stayed with them? What could he do in such a country?