The analogy I can think of in that in the real world is comparing a guy who you know is an asshole, and is open about it, and everyone hates him for it; to a guy who seems to be decent but is selfish, and I think that is a more common thing in humanity. With this I am reminded of male-female courting relationships. We’ve all heard the story of the girl who keeps going for assholes and gets her heart broken. And then we hear of the “nice guys” who keep complaining that girls never pay attention to them and go for the jackasses. The problem is, those nice guys have ulterior motives that aren’t quite nice. I think that the women they try to court, upon realizing this, feel more of a sense of disgust, as opposed to hatred for the jackasses who broke their hearts.
What I’m trying to say is I get your point, both are forms of dislike, and both have a different reaction (such as the poop vs thumbtack analogy). But I still don’t get why it being the former type of dislike is tantamount to it being a bad story.
This question struck me pretty heavily. My answer is that this awkward horndog is the rest of humanity. The humanity that is generally decent and can achieve great things but is ultimately selfish and indecisive.
That’s how I see it, at least.
It’s extremely amusing how all the things you point out as terrible in that story are what I find makes it all the more beautiful.