About Bob - a fictional story about tolerance
Once upon a time there was a man named Bob. Bob was a dog person and had a German Sheppard named Bobbie. Bobbie would constantly get into fights with a stray cat that often came to Bob’s backyard. A few times the cat scratched Bobbie’s nose pretty badly. At first Bob was mad at the cat, but then he thought that he needs to be an understanding human being, so he told himself that after all the cat is just an animal and only scratched Bobbie because it was afraid of him.
Bob had a next-door neighbor who had a little Chihuahua Betsy. Betsy had a very loud and annoying bark. Every time she barked it drove Bob nuts. Bob went to his neighbor pleading for him to shut Betsy up. The neighbor apologized, but there was not much he could do to stop his dog from barking. He pointed out to Bob that Bob’s dog barked as well, to which Bob said that Bobbie’s bark wasn’t nearly as annoying as Betsy’s.
Even though Bob fancied himself an animal lover he constantly told other neighbors that he hated Betsy, because he found her so annoying. Would not you say that Bob is a hypocrite, since as a self-proclaimed animal lover he understands why a strait cat would scratch his dog, but hates his neighbor’s dog for barking too loud? If we to apply the same logic to people who preach religious tolerance, shouldn’t a person who understands why violent Islamists hate the West so much and at the same time hates the religious right be called a hypocrite as well?
