I think that's hardly the case. Or are javascript and python and ruby self-defeating as well?
Depends on the way you look at it - on the one hand JavaScript is a terrible language, on the other hand it is (more or less) the only thing you have available in a browser.
If you could use a high-level dynamic language to write performant code without "bit-fiddling", why would anyone write in anything else?
The most commonly-heard excuse is that programmers do not like all the parens.