I guess I'm just not down with the idea that viewers who dislike early Cordelia (or the Scoobs who have learned to avoid her for good reason) are dehumanizing her, and I don't think the narrative was ever playing her as one-dimensional. She smiled when she accepted that dance with Jesse in the pilot, showing that at least some of her nerd-bashing is hiding an attraction to at least one nerd, which, teen behavior, fair enough - crushes and status anxiety just like everyone else. And she says insightful (if self-serving) things in class, so we know she is smart. After all she's the first person to come up to Buffy in the pilot, IIRC - she's totally capable of niceness with nothing in it for her.

I mean, we know her better after OOSOOM, because she gets more lines than usual, but it's not like she suddenly became a person to me. She was one before the episode, and she's still one after the episode, albeit one I found less likable. *shrug*