JavaScript is both easy to get into, but difficult to master. There are places on your path to JavaScript mastery where you're literally like, "Did I make the right choices in my life?". Push a little harder, and like anything, the added effort to understand the choices put in front of others, and why something works the way it does, will be rewarding.

Illustrations/points like cube-drone has made here are popular because it's partly an over-exaggeration, and partly true. People on either side of the fence (JS mastery, or not), can find some kind of common ground of, "Right?? Isn't it painful??"

It's painful if you let it be. With the right mentors, and the right motivation, you can make JavaScript do wonderful things.

As a whole I think JavaScript has made the web a more fun and interesting place, no matter how much you want to bitch about the language or the ecosystem. We stand on the shoulders of giants, and I, for one, appreciate it. Thanks Brendan Eich! :)