Since ads sometimes carry malware, disabling them is just self defense.

Paywalls are marginally sensible for really major publishers, but not that sensible because we're in an environment where we consume articles individually from lots of different sources.

Micropayments per article could work if enough of the article is available for free so I can decide whether it's worth paying a tiny bit to read the rest. To get halfway back to the original topic, maybe cryptocurrency could help with that.

Then don't read it? A payment model you don't like doesn't mean you still get to have the product. I don't like how some software has only annual licenses but I don't get to run it anyway because I don't think it's fair.

Your initial complaint is that the publisher should be allowed to make money. What difference does it make to you if someone reads without giving them ad revenue or doesn't read it at all?

What difference does anyone's behavior in the world make to you? If that's the question then nothing is worth discussing unless you're directly affected by it and really doesn't lead anywhere productive.