electric-sympathy:

juppschmitz:

“As he has shown on multiple occasions, [Dean] definitely enjoys torturing others, pretty much regardless of the circumstances.” (via @frozen-delight) (x)

I’m not saying outright this isn’t true. I admit I am very Dean-biased, so I’m likely to repress those incidents. I do remember Dean torturing demons for info on Lisa/Ben in season 6, and that Jeffrey guy from season 7/flashback to the search for Lilith.

In neither of these do I recall Dean actually enjoying the torturing.

So please, do remind me of scenes where Dean enjoys torturing (not just killing) others. (And I’m pretty sure you can’t be talking about Hell, because… just because, okay?)

Until I get a handy list I’ll just stand by my opinion that Dean does NOT get enjoyment out of torturing.Which does not mean that I think Dean is generally a saint, because that’s not what I’m saying at all.

(And for what it’s worth, I don’t think Sam gets off on torturing others on general principle. But it was definitely kind of obvious that he approved of Ketch going off to torture that Pierce guy.)

While I do think Dean has enjoyed it, it’s far more complicated than just saying that. I don’t think it’s truly, entirely innate.

Enjoyment isn’t even a good word for it. It’s too twisted up with pain and other things. It is far too egodystonic, too wrapped up in things outside of Dean’s control.

(As for examples, there are two times that Sam has had to stop Dean from using torture to interrogate, though the first time was very arguable in that it was half flashback- the purgatory one. The other was when whoever-the-fuck angel needed interrogation. The “You just asked me to dance” line.)

Everyone has flaws and terrible capabilities inside them, waiting to be unearthed, some worse than others of course, but the fact of the matter is that most people are never put into a situation where those things can be brought to fruition. 

They are certainly not brought to places where demons can pull out those capabilities, take them and forcefully develop them, to tear out their inhibitions with pain. To embed them into these people’s personalities, twist them up with the good impulses (the wish to kill evil creatures), to twist them into profane coping mechanisms. (Remember: Dean has 30 years of conditioning under his belt. This might be edging into headcanon territory, but I would be surprised if he didn’t find some type of strange, conditioned solace in inflicting pain, against his will.) What stops people from sinking into these things is the fact that they can’t stomach actually going through with them that first time. Dean didn’t have that ability. He was not allowed to say “no” to developing basic temptation into actualized sin.

And yeah, I think that for a profession that involves killing horrifically evil creatures, the desire to inflict pain as punishment is a very present temptation, especially when one is raised into it.

People that have been seriously tortured and abused can very much develop egodystonic things like this. Stockholm Syndrome isn’t just something dramatic that happens in movies, and it comes in many forms & disorders, many intensities. 

It’s important to remember that (if you agree with the ‘enjoyment’ interpretation in the first place), Dean did not decide to be this way. He did not become this by himself. It was forced upon him, so the same things you would assume about someone else with these qualities is not fair to apply to Dean. It’s not fair to say that this is “who he is”. And he is doing a fantastic job of not allowing it to consume him in any way, shape, or form. He has only ever gone through with it with a positive and urgent goal in mind. Hell, even when he had the MoC I don’t recall him running around torturing for fun.

“Regardless of the circumstances” was a very weird, vicious and erroneous thing to say.