It's ironic that Snowden has no fear in blabbing about Top Secret information, and no fear in claiming the moral high ground, but is fearful and scared of getting apprehended at this point in time.
Sounds like his so-called fearlessness has worn off? Nah, he's just a troublemaker who is now on the run.
Javascript is not required to read articles on the web. It's optional. That's why "Reader" mode is so handy, just show me the article so I can read it. Sometimes I don't like waiting for my browser to struggle with poorly written JS.
It sounds like a classic noobie mistake... "Why are users able to turn off Javascript?" "No idea." "Remove the feature!"
If anyone says Javascript is not optional, they are trying to sell you something: probably web apps!