I don't think the gist is that there aren't problems with these languages, but that with a little carefully placed construction tape, you can avoid falling into the large holes.
Yeah, people say the same thing about C++. It's great when you have your own carefully curated subset of the language.... and then you have to deal with other programmers & libraries
The difference being, you can't avoid javascript (if you want to target the browser); you can either write it directly, or use it as a compile target. Each has it's strengths and drawbacks.
