In a nutshell, we did it to ourselves by excessively promoting the novel over the course of many decades.

Starting with the avant-garde movements of the 20's, through the communism era (Hasek was a socialist and a communist) to this day, we've been essentially saying Svejk characterizes the true nature of what it means to be a Czech. You literally hear school teachers tell their students a drunk devious simpleton is considered a role model.

The topic is quite complex, there's more history and politics involved, but I'm not going there.

Disclaimer: By no means am I criticizing the book or people who like it.