I know I’m digging a grave to an old conversation I didn’t intervene, because the discussion was intriguing and thought-provoking, which is what I try to do with some grimdark material I create (dark content tends to encourage others to see how they really think/feel about a topic).

But I did finally want to admit this interaction (Diane) is based upon a real person, my cousin a clinical psychopath and a close, dear relative.

Contrary to popular belief, a psychopath can have a sense of morals, but they are going to be robotic, convenient, and situationally/culturally relevant. To my psychopathic cousin, deception is not inherently wrong, and he can honestly say he does very little lying.

Since, by his moral code, lying is often considered wrong (and inconvenient, unwise, and gets you into trouble), he will instead analyze the other person and either deflect the conversation and/or feeds on their most likely assumptions through deception. As far as he’s concerned, if a person incorrectly misinterpreted his words or forgot the point they were chasing, that’s their fault, not his: making sure that others have that understanding is not a responsibility in his moral code of ethics, but theirs.
And he’s gotten so proficient as to work it around his own mother.

.

@Background Pony #394F  
You have no idea what stockholm syndrome is, do you? And again, look for images from this series that shows that Chopsticks enjoys this before claiming he does, because I have no reason to think otherwise as it stands now.

@Meanlucario  
Which might well be the case, but unless the victim is willing to complain, or someone else alleges a charge of kidnapping, there’s not much to be done. It’s easy to look at someone’s life and shake your head, saying: That’s terrible. But some people are happy despite being in what we think of as and abusive relationship.
 
Basically, if he’s happy, and she’s happy… there’s no real harm being done that couldn’t be undone with therapy and painkillers.

@Background Pony #394F  
And we are the outside observers, and unless you can show proof otherwise, it’s pretty much a case of stockholm syndrome.

@Prometheus labs CEO  
Then only an outside observation could tell.

@Background Pony #394F  
What if the only reason they consent is because they have been heavily psychologically manipulated into doing so?

@Background Pony #394F  
True, I just said it’s about consent. If it’s happening to a man or woman who doesn’t consent, it’s abuse. If there is consent, it’s just Sadomasochistic behavior.

I’m just say to all the people in the comment defending Diane
 
No she does not love him, psychopaths are neurologically incapable of love or emotional attachment. the only thing he could ever be to her is a useful tool. You need to stop anthropomorphizing these creatures. Psychopaths are not mentally human, they are devoid of humanity in even the slightest sense. they’re more akin to sentient biological machines than they are humans. My point is, stop thinking of the psychopath as if it were a human with feelings, it doesn’t have any, it only cares about itself.

@Background Pony #394F  
And seeing as the only reason he put up with the abuse is because he’s under the belief that Pinkamena loves him, something that she can’t bring herself to say, indicating that she doesn’t love him, and knows that if she did say it, than she would be without a victim. And show me one time that Chopsticks has shown to enjoy the pain and not just being a victim of stockholm syndrome.
 
And you never argued against my point of gender playing a role in you guys defending Pinkamena’s actions.

@Meanlucario  
It’s all about consent. If being beat up is what you’re into… who are we to say that’s wrong?

@Background Pony #394F  
Someone being cold to strangers (what a tsundere is) is very different from an abuser (the perverted interpretation of tsundere). If the sexes were reversed, I doubt people would be defending Pinkamena here.

@Meanlucario  
Why? Why would an girl who likes to show her affection through violence struggle with three little words?
 
Why do you think, Baka?

@Background Pony #1E86  

@Prometheus labs CEO  
Actually, there is love.

@Prometheus labs CEO  
Very likely.
 
@Background Pony #394F  
If that was the case, than why would she need to deny loving him? It’s more likely that he’s just gullible and thinks her abuse is love.

@Background Pony #394F  
There is no love here

@Meanlucario  
It’s clear she’s a sadist. But it’s also clear he’s a mascocist. Like I said, love can be a little twisted.

@redweasel  
Or she’s afraid of the possibility of him seeing through her lies, even if that is very unlikely

Diane: “…He knows.”

@Meanlucario
 
yes, so she can easily deceive him by saying something like “yes, I love you dearly.” then when she abuses him, he’ll still think it means love, even if people try to help him. the only reason she would hesitate is if she cares about deceiving him.

@redweasel  
Ever heard of stockholm syndrome? It’s one reason abuse victims are less likely to report their abuse since it’s normalized to them. He’s asking her since to him, abuse it love, and learning that it isn’t would make him realized that she never loved him and only saw him as a punching bag. Literally in this case.  

@Meanlucario
 
if her torturing him was enough proof, then he wouldn’t be asking her if it was true or not. saying “I love you” is easy. saying it when you are worried about someone else is not.

@redweasel  
I think the amount of images of her beating him up and torturing him is more than enough proof, unless you think that physical abuse is a form of love, than you may need more help than I can offer.

@Meanlucario
 
how would she ever get caught in the lie? there’s no way to prove she doesn’t love him.

@redweasel  
Again, I’m pretty sure she just doesn’t want to get caught in the lie.