I think a lot of JS haters haven’t spent much time with modern JS. That’s how it was for me, at least. I would laugh at JS wat-isms and think back to the old days of jQuery spaghetti. Python was my favorite language.
Now I’m a full time JS/TS developer and I love the language. It’s a dream to use. The syntax is concise and logical, the ecosystem is vibrant, and the barrier to entry is low. I wish there was more JS in the scientific, CV, and ML spaces — Python is still superior here, imo — but otherwise JS is my go to. It’s no wonder we see the rise of Electron apps - the developer experience is just so much better.