forgive me but ...
I would advise not being personally offended by Tom and his blind spots, since past experience suggests you will then get increasingly frustrated trying to change him, and end up spitting the dummy and bolting again, which would really be too bad for those who like your otherwise reasoned and informative stuff
At least he is civil and has principles of his own, and is prepared to keep coming back ... there have been others here who are more overtly arrogant, which for me is a worse sin than doggedly following some ideology
sorry if I'm patronizing but I wouldn't want to see you implode a second time ...