I don’t have an answer to your question but I tend to agree with what you wrote.

However - is fingerprinting the only thing to worry about on the www? I’d say not.

Disabling javascript by default is a good way to be able to click links without running the risk of getting pwned by some rogue script.

Then I use an addon that shows me all the 3rd party shit the site would’ve wanted to load, and if it looks OK to me I then enable javascript. The addon can remember this if I want to, so I don’t have to do it every time for that particular site.

Esp. with news articles js is often not even required to read the article itself. Or I can see content that becomes invisible when js is enabled.

FWIW, the developers of Tor browser are experts in being anonymous online, and they disable js by default.