> the more of an accent a person has, the harder I need to work to understand them.
Implicit in this statement is the (incorrect) assumption that you yourself don't have an accent. It makes no sense to complain about people having "a lot" of accent.
The quoted statement of fact does not imply that the poster believes himself to have no accent. The implication in this statement is the (plainly true) assumption that from the perspective of a listener, the greater difference a speaker has to their own dialect is what is always meant by 'more' of an accent.
Furthermore, the presence of several dialects does not preclude there being a 'central' dialect, with 'less' of an accent, being most easily understood by all- eg the columbus oh 'midland' accent being the traditional american 'radio standard' for its neutrality and strong general pronunciation.
Implicit in this statement is the (incorrect) assumption that you yourself don't have an accent. It makes no sense to complain about people having "a lot" of accent.