chucique noticed just now: a distinct lack of respect for her personal boundaries that persists past childhood. Let's consider the most gratuitous example of this utter lack of consideration: as you will recall, the Delicate Genius made that crude and hateful pun about absence making the heart go wander when he knew for a fact that Elizabeth had suffered for years from the after-effects of Eric's betrayal. His "apology" was, to put it mildly, less an apology and more his way of telling her to not only not be so sensitive but to also coerce her into applauding his cleverness.
Let's contrast that with his wanting to have everyone bleat about how evil and mean Rhetta was for tearing his heart out of his chest and laughing like the evil temptress she was for daring to suggest that she take the personal initiative in a relationship. When Liz was all "Yeah, whatever", Mikey-boy felt like he'd been stabbed in his heart. Simply put, Liz's real pain is something to be treated with derisive dismissal while his imaginary trauma is high tragedy. A "man" like him is someone I simply cannot be asked to sympathize with in the least.
