>the most successful products in the world did it anyway
A few successful projects in the world did it. There's likely far more successful products that didn't use it.
The key metric along this line is how often each language allows success to some level and how often they fail (especially when due to the choice of language).
> Instagram has one billion monthly users generating $7 billion a year.
Doesn't Instagram serve mostly static content that's put together in an appealing way by mobile apps? I'd figure Instagram's CDN has far more impact than whatever Python code it's running somewhere in it's entrails.
Cargo cult approaches to tech stacks don't define quality.
A few successful projects in the world did it. There's likely far more successful products that didn't use it.
The key metric along this line is how often each language allows success to some level and how often they fail (especially when due to the choice of language).
>should be lauded rather than scrutinized
One can do both at the same time.