Yea, I had a similar experience at a Wall Street firm to the OP. However, my conclusions were different. My advice to this guy is the same advice I had for my younger self back in 2009: "Get out while you still can!".

I wrote a blog post reflecting on my experience. Here is the relevant snippet:

  Working at the bank was a huge change from the rest
  of my life. The primary focus of my job became my
  paycheck. Technology decisions were made for me, by
  external committees. I was expected to follow all sorts
  of processes and procedures. I was expected to become 
  a conventional programmer. I found myself building
  products that had an unclear end-user.
  
  I did learn things there, too. I learned what it was 
  like to work with engineers on a daily basis. I learned
  a lot from my managers and colleagues, many of whom were
  just astoundingly intelligent individuals. I learned how
  big companies operated. But mostly, I learned a lot about
  myself.

  I learned that work meant more to me than a paycheck. 
  Work should be about solving problems, helping people, 
  and creating enduring value. Money is important, but 
  it wasn't what attracted me to technology in the first
  place. And that's why I knew I had to leave that firm.

from "What One Does", http://www.pixelmonkey.org/2010/10/16/what-one-does

I doubt he is sarcastic.

The very fact that there is so much doubt means it is not sarcastic. Or it is exceptionally poor writing.

His standards weren't based on the real world though.

The real world is an awfully broad place. There are plenty of places you can go where mediocrity is not encouraged, people do more than 2-3 hours of real work a day, they're passionate about their work and curious about outside developments, and your specialties do matter. If you want to work there and find that you're not able to do that in your current job, change your job.

You tend to get the life you believe you deserve - if you're willing to put in the leg work to make it happen, you can very easily reconfigure the world around you to something you're satisfied with.

I'm another one-year-out-of-college developer working at Amazon. This article describes how I feel almost exactly.

You might consider moving teams if you can. Not all teams at Amazon are like this.

It reads as sarcasm - "that is acceptable" meaning people in the group/team/culture accept it.

Yeah I think sarcastic but still wanting to keep the job for a while.