Wasn't going to read the article until your comment.

An anti-recommendation of this sort is all I needed:

>I wanted to be sympathetic [...], but I'm finding it quite difficult to do so when they're this smarmy and unpleasant.

That's one way to boast that your morality, sympathy, and sense of justice are primarily guided by how pleasant the people involved are.

>I would not want to involve this person in any of my endeavours, either.

Nobody asked.

"I wanted to be sympathetic to the burn victim, but it's hard to do so because I don't like her, and I totally wouldn't date her either"