It's all valid points, but I personally don't care, I rarely see a page that obnoxious because of its JS use. Most sites I find repulsive is their use of ads. Now if there were no JS in browsers, these site would still plant heaps of ads only with CSS, it's not the code execution to blame. If the publisher controls the layout then it's game over for freedom :)

> Do you happen to be a UX person?

Not a label I'd put in my title, but I like UX, it's an integral part of building good products so I spent fair bit of time exercising it. I'm a full stack developer and who likes to build experiences users love.