Last time I recalled most of the interactions between Ash and Paul were Ash insisting on following or hanging out with Paul while Paul just wanted to be left alone so because of 1 episode where Paul wanted to see Pikachu's power equates to "stalking" no it doesn't. And again point still stands that Gary and Ash abrely interacted in Johto and IDK why you're bringing up AG and DP events that happened post-rivalry especially considering that after their final battle Paula nd Ash came to respect each other as well. Not to mention the basis for Ash and Gary's rivalry is completely different from Ash and Paul's so IDK why you're even trying to compare the 2 rivalries in the first place.
*facepalms*
Seriously? You're calling Satoshi's actions those of a stalker? How shallow can you be? He's a ten year old trying to put people on equal footing, something many ten year old brats out there wouldn't even try to do, and he gets called a stalker. Yeah... Real nice.
Here's a little phrase for you, "Treat others as you would like them to treat you." This might help you figure out why Satoshi is all friendly and nice towards Shinji despite his tough-man attitude. I would say this makes him a bigger man than Shinji, if anything. But of course, none of that idealistic values mean much to your cynical soul, I'm sure.
Also, the reason I brought up Shigeru post-rivalry is because it wasn't even really a 'post-rivalry'. Shigeru still acted as a critic on Satoshi's battling skills post-Johto, so he could still be considered Satoshi's rival on some level. Furthermore, their exchange of dialogues in AG and DP were probably some of the best character development since the OS, since you could see how the both of them (or rather just Shigeru really) have grown since the first few seasons, which is why I brought it up to show how childish Shinji can be. And save me that "Satoshi and Shinji got friendly post-rivalry" crap. We're talking about Shinji's attitude in this episode alone, not some far-off distant episodes.
This isn't MLP. Friendship only goes so far. If it was the end all then Ash would b a 5 time League winner and Pyramid King Brandon wouldn't have recognized Paul, despite his letting his emotions get to him, as a worthy trainer. And BW really? The series that many regard as Ash's worst is an example of how the power of friendship triumphs over all? Face it you don't have to coddle your Pokemon to be a good trainer. Hell Paul's Pokemon showed that they cared for him despite his harsh training methods. The guy has at least 4 regions worth of badges, so no the writers clearly intended to show he's a worthwhile trainer. The only one doing any real circle-jerking here is you getting all pissed off because Ash lost 6-2 when you yourself has admitted that you haven't even seen the episode.
Yes, BW as an example of friendship triumphing, because it was obvious that the writers retreaded back to the coddling days Satoshi had in OS and, to some extent, AG, instead of sticking with the "Let's get tougher like Shinji and leave the idealism alone", not that I have problems with said idealism, so it is pretty much a circle-jerk, because Satoshi sucks as a trainer afterwards anyway, so such needless character development was merely there to prove a needless point that evidently got washed away in future episodes.
Satoshi's skills aside, you're seriously rooting for this scumbag? I'm hardly surprised, of course. His military regime grinding down his Pokemon resulted in something similar to the Stockholm Syndrome, but instead of that, we have the 50 Shades of Abuse version where the Pokemon felt that such abuse was really necessary because of both the writers and the characters' ignorance to what's going on with Shinji's training. From the way his degrading eyes looked down on other Pokemon, releasing them as a means of labeling them as "worthless" to his reckless attitude to plow through his enemies with suicide tactics, I'd pretty much call this guy an abusive trainer, not a good trainer. A good battler? Perhaps. But as a trainer? Give me a break. Satoshi might be thick-headed, but he's ten times the trainer Shinji ever was, specifically because he knows how to balance out the harsh and the idealistic... at least until the writers decided to circle-jerk in BW, that is.
But even before BW, in DP, you could easily see that Satoshi knows when to pull the leash, his treatment of Gliscor being the best example.