[throwaway7767]

Those scripts should probably be using something like the following, if they really are python2-only: #!/usr/bin/env python2

I get your frustration though, it's a change that breaks a whole lot of existing scripts.

[maxerickson]

That doesn't address the part where python2 didn't exist in a lot of places at the time, so scripts using python2 to work on Arch would have to be adjusted to work elsewhere. There was no universal solution.