Seem's to be a lot of anti-independent comments and crackdowns as of late but saying that I have about as much respect for factions as they do to me which isn't a lot. I do think there's a divide and I think it's growing I worked out pretty fast that I have no desire to join a Faction.
I'm happy enough in general to play along with Factions and even help them out when I can but to be honest it was apparant from my first day that a lot of them think the rest of us are scum and honestly I avoid them in general and tend to interact more with other Independents. This probably has a Knock on effect as well I suspect I should probably try and interact more with them but I just don't want to.
Not saying every faction has the same overall attitude though theres a few I respect and have had decent interactions with.
There are bad Independents I do not deny that I've been chased by battlecruisers in a Scimitar through asteroid fields which I don't consider fair or fun.