I write SPAs for a living and a lot of the technologies mentioned in this thread are a godsend. Whenever somebody expresses the above sentiment I feel it's only because they never had to maintain a complicated web app.

Correct: we used to write websites that were as simple as it was feasible for them to be, with as few client-side requirements as possible. It's the whole idea that "complicated web apps" are good things that I dislike.