Exactly my thought. Whenever I see wild optimization goose chases it's Python causing all the issues.

The problem is that a lot is still possible to optimize "in Python" although as you say the code becomes less and less readable to your average Python developer, so that people don't notice they just picked the wrong tool for the job.

You need more speed? Use multiprocessing? Allocate memory appropriately? Rust, or if you like pain, C or C++.