Python has a huge library ecosystem and the average Machine Learning programmer is not a CS geek and so prefers pythonic quasi-OOO then over FP (one of the hurdles for JAX adoption is it's functional paradigm)
You now say it's like that because Python has already quite some libs / frameworks in that direction.
This looks like circular reasoning.
Also the the "prototypical ML dude" comes form the math department. People with math background have a much easier time to grasp FP than procedural programming. FP is much more "natural" when you're used to math.
(Procedural programming says things like `x = x + 1`, but even my grandma would know that "this has no solution", or is likewise "plain wrong" ;-))