Oh, I don't think we're intended to feel for him. Crush was written by David Fury who was at the time pretty skeptical of Spike and his fanbase. I'm sure you've heard of the infamous serial killer in prison fan incident.

I think it's just a genuine response. Spike would be utterly confused and bewildered. It kind of goes back to what you said before about it being tied to the culture we live in. It's important to remember that while Spike has a huge and vocal fanbase, there are a lot of people who didn't care for him or perhaps more accurately, didn't care for aforementioned vocal fanbase.