Neanderthals are pretty interesting, but I don't know if that famous reconstruction shown in the article is accurate. I don't think they have any way of knowing the typical Neanderthal eye and hair colour; I always thought those distinctive north-European tones were specific to Homo-Sapiens, although that pale skin tone would have an evolutionary advantage for the northern latitudes the Neanderthals seemed to thrive in.

If humans really did interbreed with Neanderthals in Europe to the extent some people like to think, it'd be interesting to think that those distinctive European colours were a result of that interbreeding.

As for why the anti-human hate? I think that's part of a long romantic trend to depict primordial and "savage" peoples as gloriously as possible. I don't much care for it, myself.