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Why not? Aesthetics improve readability and maintainability, (probably) trading out for less raw speed. If I'm less concerned about performance than maintainability, why shouldn't aesthetics play a large role in my decision?

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For me, unfamiliarity with a syntax is easy to confuse as poor aesthetics of the syntax.

I got to the point of understanding and enjoying clojure's syntax very quickly.

Because it can lead you to make arbitrary choices. People usually disagree vehemently on matters of aesthetics. I didn't say it shouldn't play any role, it just shouldn't be an important one. Focus too much on syntax over semantics and you're bikeshedding.

I get lost easily in non-lisp-code nowadays =x The unwritten standard for lisp indentation works out quite readably

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