It actually is though. See, when your opponent plays a permanent and you use a removal spell on it, you're actually down cards, because all permanents these days have enters, leaves, end of turn, and beginning of upkeep triggers, and abilities that used to be worded, "Whenever [this card] does [something]..." are now worded, "Whenever any card in any game anywhere does [something]...". By the time you gain priority to cast your removal spell, your opponent has gotten half a dozen cards' worth of value out of their one permanent. By contrast, when you counter my spell, you're trading your one card for my one card, and that might make me feel bad because I don't get all my sweet triggered abilities first.