I don't think that going back through aviation history and pointing to high loss rates of then-advanced new types in their early years of service is a very good way of looking at this, especially not if we are going to go back as far as the Harrier or the Lightning! One would like to think we had learned things about aircraft design and flight safety in that time, not to mention changes in societal expectations and budgetary provision. The F35 accident rate compares favourably with 4th gen US aircraft, which is probably as fair a comparison as can be made in this way.
I wonder if perceptions in Europe have become skewed by the quite extraordinary safety record of the Eurofighter, and whether comparisons between it and the F35 are unfair: it could be argued that European budgetary constraints have pushed loss aversion to an excessive level, driving inflexibility and reducing combat readiness, and that Europeans should be grateful the US is still prepared to push boundaries in the way it designs, maintains and operates combat aircraft. I'm not going to come down on either side of that fence: my mind is not made up, but there seems to me the basis of an argument there.