From “Infinite Jest”

[Gately’s] respected and well-liked by almost all the residents, which the House Manager says causes the veteran Staff some concern, because Gately’s job is not to be these people’s friend all the time.

–from the description of the drug rehab halfway house; it’s weird reading this book after having read so much about abusive and just pointless “treatment” at similarly 12-Step-only, non-research-based treatment centers in the real world. It’s presented with wry irony here, but that antagonistic, “condescension and contempt are synonyms for love” attitude toward addicted people in treatment does a lot of harm…. More on this very soon.