If Thomas hates the General, he hates himself.

Second, assuming people are basically good, Stephen might oneday come completely to his senses and start treating people with more respect; if that ever happened it might actually be a pleasure to be around him.

In the meantime, to be honest, Thomas must admit that he himself is not always as respectful of people as he might be. Thus, while Thomas finds Stephen's disrespect disturbing, it would be hypocritical for Thomas to hate Stephen's disrespectfulness while Thomas is yet less than fully respectful himself.

Since Thomas claims to hate hypocrisy, it would be hypocritical for him to hate Stephen for being disrespectful.