The thing is, I don't disagree that a large (if not majority) number of developers reach for dependencies by default, instead of carefully considering patterns first.

I don't think bundling React the view library, Redux the state management library, Typescript the Javascript superset, GraphQL the API query language, Webpack the bundler as one "React the platform" is helpful.

I'd like to see the developers that automatically merge all of these technologies together by default because everyone else does it (or worse, because X Big Tech Co does it) to start questioning and exploring other options. I'm not sure how to get there, and maybe my comment above is my contribution towards convincing readers to reconsider their understanding of the React ecosystem.

You're right though, it is a mess. I think the mess comes from people and how they code, not so much this specific library nor the language.

These new frameworks and things like "create-react-app" have made it easier and easier for junior developers to make immensely complicated apps with immensely complicated tool chains. I think that has a lot to do with how things have gotten to the point described in your comment and many of the others. As you start reading tutorials about Vue or React they tend to quickly stray into other dependencies, and webpack or whatever. The web has gotten more complex. The only way to navigate it wisely is to become wise through experience. There are no shortcuts but we've definitely made it easier for new developers to stumble into a mess.