Python in no way stops you from a having a typical response to SIGPIPE, it's as simple as handling the exception and doing a sys.exit(), but it doesn't "just happen". This makes the typical path a little more contrived, but I don't think having explicit handling makes it a bad citizen.

To torture my analogy, in my mind a "bad citizen" of the highway may be a car incapable of doing the minimum speed limit, whereas Python just has a manual transmission vs Perl's automatic (in this case).

I'm splitting hairs though, your point is fair. I just think your objection is a little strong for what comes down to convenience.