> Isn't that what attracts so many people to Python in the first place - that it does have strong opinions, and often enforces them on how people should structure their code.

I seriously doubt it. What attracts people to Python is that:

1. It has a big standard library and until the last ~10 years installing 3rd party packages was beyond the capabilities of your average CS student.

2. It is easy to write relative to C++. If you're in data science, those are your two options, so you choose Python.

Python is an extremely loose language - it's not restrictive at all in ways that matter. Is "you can't use two lines (unless you use a \)" restrictive when your language lets you arbitrarily replace functions at runtime?

It's not at all a readable language imo. It is very much write-optimized. It has tons of code golfing and one liners.