I agree with most of your points that most people choose JavaScript because you can find a lot of developers and it’s not expensive.

But I wouldn’t recommend anybody to use NodeJS for every single project, because I know that NodeJS itself has a set of limitations where you have to choose some other language. Every programming language excels at some specific thing. If possible, it’s always good to use the best weapon for the task. As you said, no one should encourage NodeJS/JS as the first choice for everything, because it isn’t.

Regarding the skills, JavaScript is an easy language to start with. But it’s not an easy language at all. You’ll start using NodeJS and, of course, be able to write something which works in a few minutes. But, to know how to get something done without making a mess due to the flexibility it provides, it takes a lot of experience.

I don’t think any language is horrible just because the code we wrote with it was horrible. Personally, I have written terrible code with Java/PHP/Python/C# and good code with NodeJS. But it doesn’t mean anything. Any weapon requires mastery. It’s like you have a holster of weapons. You need to pick the right one for the battle, which could be close combat or long-range.