This is my first post here. I'm not very familiar with this site but I've been a member at Crackreality for over three years now. The discussions taking place at both sites of course mirrors the familiar dynamic of realist vs. dreamer; thinking with the head vs. thinking with the heart; people are inherently bad vs. institutions make people bad; conservative vs. liberal.
In my case, I have become increasingly conservative in many ways as I've gotten older. This can be said of my experience with crack addicts also. I used to think that the people I met could change, that I should look past their faults and encourage them or help them. I admit that most of the addicts I knew were pretty unsavory characters and that they were derelict in the extreme, but they were all at one time at the beginning or middle stages of their addiction too - trying to live in two worlds at once.
I'm sure there are people at both boards who have been dragged through the ringer and beaten down to the ground by their addict's behavior. From the stories that I've read at CR, I think it's understandable that people are bitter, and even hateful at times, yes, even too hateful at times. Yet, despite their anger, I'm sure these people look up at the ceiling and cry at night for their addicts, themselves, and their children just as you all do. I think maybe there are more people at CR who are in the later stages of living with an addict and they no longer want to live in two worlds at once. Now I could be wrong because I haven't read many of the posts at SR but many of the folks at CR have had enough or are pretty close to it and they're trying to strip the veils of denial of those who are headed down the same path of destruction that they just crossed.
At CR, people choose recovery and for many of them that means no contact with the human tornadoes that ravage their lives every time they draw near. It also means a whole lot of anger, and shared suffering. It means using humor and sarcasm to help take the edge off their pain and find a common bond. It's just another way of relating. Maybe quoting someone from another board and casting it in a negative light might not be a good idea but we all make mistakes. I'm sure each one of you has said that of someone else you know....