[krapp]

It's similar, but not the same. Moving from C++ to assembler is dropping from a high level of abstraction to a low level of abstraction. Moving from, say, Python to Javascript is just switching one high level language for another - there is no "lower level." You could just as well save the trouble of the second language and run a type checker or linter on javascript code itself and wind up with the same degree of "safety", such as it is.

[horrido]

As you pointed out yourself, JavaScript is a poorly designed mess. It may be a "high level" language, but it's also dangerous to use. None of the linters do a perfect job of ferreting out all the problems. In other words, JavaScript will never be 100 per cent "safe" to use. Treating it as a lower level of abstraction doesn't harm us. It simply gives us a foundation for using better languages, and that has to be a Good Thing.