> web devs are among the least educated, least sophisticated, most entitled and most whiny bunch there is
This is exactly what I see. I'm a C/C++ developer, and recently started to re-make my website[0] (very WIP) together with my partner, and I've had a few web-devs and other devs tell me that it's really fast (i didn't notice because I'm used to sites like HN), and I just said "it doesnt use js", and I kid you not, at least one or two couldn't even believe that(???). It's crazy how simple you can make a website, with just standard html and css.
I don't understand the push for frameworks and other js stuff, honestly. You said it - Megabytes. That's all you're really adding when all you want is a simple little website.
Of course you need it for interactivity, and any kind of account system will get more complicated, but the amount of sites that are just a webapp is horrifying.