A few points on this, Barry.
First, and I'm being totally serious, you are a good guy and a real asset here. Nobody gets his balls busted harder or more often than you do, and even if your politics aligned perfectly with the most conservative people here, you'd still take a huge amount of flack just because you went to OU and don't apologize for it. Despite all that, you never get pissed off, never act like your feelings were hurt, and are pretty much friendly to everybody here. You talk some **** in good humor, but you generally treat everybody with kindness. I don't think I have ever seen a better sport in my life, and nobody here would ever want you to feel unwelcome.
Second, you and whoever wrote this message (and I can guess a few people who could have written it to you because I've gotten messages like this myself but it doesn't really matter) are correct. This board does have a circle jerk element that sometimes repels thoughtful discussion. There is also a tendency on this board to dismiss people who don't spout the conservative line as hard Left. People shouldn't do that. Even if someone is coming from the hard Left (and some have), they shouldn't be disrespected. They should have their arguments debunked with logic and evidence. If your position is so strong, this shouldn't be hard to do. If they aren't making an argument, but are just showing up to talk ****, blow them off. Don't sour the board by engaging them.
Third, if a moderate or liberal does show up and wants to discuss things on the merits, they should engage those who are willing to engage them, because plenty of people here will. I will. Monahorns will. Others will. And they should ignore those who smack talk them. As conservatives should ignore a leftist who shows up and talks ****, moderates and liberals should ignore a conservative who talks **** or acts like a jackass.
I will also say this though. The "I'm actually a moderate, not a big liberal" characterization of oneself doesn't carry any weight or give one credibility as a free or nuanced thinker or fair dealer if you only attack conservatives or conservatism. A true moderate should be able to take a conservative position from time to time or say something positive about a conservative and not just when that conservative does something liberal. For example, praising Mitt Romney when he votes to convict Trump but not praising anything conservative he ever does isn't moderate. That's basically the same thing Rachel Maddow does. From time to time, say something positive about somebody actually doing something conservative or take the conservative position on something. Even if you don't endorse it fully, concur with it where you can and disagree where you can't. It's not hard. I'm not even a moderate, but I've said nice things about Barack Obama before and defended actions he took and criticized actions Republicans took. Likewise, if you don't fully endorse something a Democrat does, distinguish yourself from it. Specify where you agree and where you disagree. In short, if you're not on a team, then don't act like you're on a team.
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