> It really is astonishing that most programmers (whom I know) consider Lisp to be this weird language with too many brackets.

Programmers (humans really) are really good at having knee-jerk reactions to things and then sticking with the same opinion for some reason. As engineers, you would think we'd be better at looking at things objectively, but somehow discussions/thinking around programming languages tend to be a very emotional thing for many, so they stick with their first impressions.

The real problem with lisp programs is each of them has its own DSL (the macros) so you have to learn one language per program. (I think that's the reason also why the library ecosystem is lacking)