I see your point but I think you're reading more into it than intended... I want to talk with my friends, instead of random strangers that may or may not be cool
I do understand that preference. When my aunt hosts a big Thanksgiving dinner, I typically spend my time talking with people who I know well, not the second cousins of second cousins who I barely recognize. (I'm not a terribly social person. Although, given that I have a GameFAQs account old enough to drink, you could probably have guessed that.)
But if one of those other guests I hardly know joins a conversation I'm in, then saying "Butt out, we weren't talking to you" would be terribly rude and inappropriate. It is as much their place as it is mine. And - to drop the metaphor - insofar as we define ourselves by being from a board that is not Current Events, this is more their place than ours.
And so while I am glad that the Politics Containment Topic series is continuing and/or rebooting, although it must do so in a new location due to new, stupid policies, I do believe that a stance of "locals are unwelcome by default" reflects poorly on us.
I don't like this duchy. Now, it's an adventurer.