I guess if you're using a system that's a bit on the low end of portals system requirements, removing the requirement of running a VM might have some noticeable effect, that's a pretty niche problem though...
Most spam is not "black hat spam". It is what I call "white-collar spam": perfectly legitimate company, sending you emails from legitimate address.
Sounds like they've never used an email that's been leaked... I use an old email address for things I know are going to spam me, and the volume of "black hat spam" it recieves is way more than the "white-collar spam".
It could work if done selectively on key areas that are statistically slanted to one side, but the logistics of pulling that off and keeping it a secret mean it's just not a logical conspiracy.
If they're not prepared to turn down the TV to a reasonable level that's on them. They know it's upsetting you and are prepared to continue upsetting you. That's really unhealthy and inconsiderate behaviour.
One thing that might help is getting them to use headphones with the TV. Most TVs these days have Bluetooth support. If I'm watching a movie late at night (common) I'll always use headphones. Again it's just common courtesy.
Most people don't use JS because they think it's perfect... they use it because it's the language that works on web browsers... or because thier coworkers made something in it... or because the library that does what they want uses it...
I guess if you're using a system that's a bit on the low end of portals system requirements, removing the requirement of running a VM might have some noticeable effect, that's a pretty niche problem though...