I love this show so much cuz that’s such a serious question and it looks like that. lol

In all fairness, PC tried to give her a voice, hooked her up with someone willing to take her story, and she wasn’t able to get any of the victims to tell their stories, and instead got ambushed by Hank when she tried to meetup with one of them.

If she’s not able to reach any of the victims for comment, I’m not really sure what she’s even supposed to do at that point. Like there isn’t really anything for her to write, and she’s been receiving death threats over this, it kinda seems like by the time PB says this, she’d done everything she reasonably could.

It’s not like she doesn’t do other things when in her power to help women through her writing.

It’s complicated.

I think Diane could have navigated the conversation with Mr. PB a lot better. Which is why it’s complicated.

We need to remember to practice “mentalization” which is where you practice the skill of holding someone else’s reality inside your own head and imagining what they might do/say based on what you know.

Mr. PB is a male. He’s a rich, privileged male. He’s not directly effected by the issues Diane is advocating against. He was once a young, naive and impressionable boy. He’s also a dog, meaning he has a constant, never-ended need for reassurance, positive affirmations and ‘togetherness’ with his closest friends. Diane’s inherent critical nature and her conflictual accusations (no matter how true) are at direct odds with Mr’s inner needs. Mr will choose harmony over justice. He’s a good boy, and good boys don’t challenge male authority… We saw in a earlier clip how Mr looks up to and idolizes Hank, which further complicates why it’s so hard for him to see Hank as a perpetrator. It’s like telling someone their beloved father is a rapist. It’s a hard pill to swallow and you cannot realistically expect someone to side with you the first time you share that new information. It’s too shocking. Mr is loyal too so naturally he wants to defend Hank.

All of this is why, Diane could have approached the conversation with a softer touch… She needed to go on a long term campaign to slowly get Mr. PB to accept the idea that his idol is bad and corrupt. But Diane didn’t do that. She made a promise to drop it entirely and then turned around and did the opposite of that… Which was super hurtful to Mr. PB.

Big picture: Diane is in the right. Perpetrators should be called out and victims deserve justice. If you can use your voice to normalize speaking out about injustices, then do it.

Small picture: Diane was insensitive to Mr. PB’s feelings and betrayed him by doing the thing he politely asked her not to do because it causes him emotional distress.

Look at you, internet stranger, being all mature and showing growth by changing your worldview! (That was sincere, by the way.)

My ability to stand up for injustices that don’t affect me comes in waves, and sometimes when it ebbs, I feel bad for not saying something when I could have (in my case, not making use of my white privilege when I could).

I think if Mr. Peanut butter had been concerned solely for the way the hate ended up being directed at Diane, it would be one thing, but the fact that he mainly focused on how it affected him made it icky.

Its kinda the opposite for me, I used to sympathize more with her mindset, but as time went by id say Its one of those rare cases where I completely switched stances and now sympathize with him, at least in this specific case. Diane’s self-righteousness doesnt let her see how she affects others by deciding to be the voice of something she has no business being the voice of. And while the causes she decides to champion are certainly important, theres many ways she could go about them without being the face of the movement - for instance, giving voice to the actual victims. You can support a cause or denounce injustice without being the flagbearer and stepping over those close to you.

This was the inciting incident on my opinion on Peanutbutter. The fact that he stood by and allowed his wife to receive such vitriol permanently changed how I saw him.

I disagree, at first I kinda sided with Diane but looking back at it now, I’m siding more with Mr. Peanutbutter. I don’t agree with PB’s reasoning, though.

I think it’s great that Diane is looking at the injustices in the world. HOWEVER, I believe her involvement is putting others and herself at risk.

1. Diane gets involved and starts to contact anyone who knows anything about the harassment involved. Hank’s victim is anonymous, and we really don’t know much about her save for the fact that she worked for him. She is anonymous for a reason.

I don’t think it’s fair that Diane is trying to intrude on her. Many fans were upset when the reporters were harassing Penny for details on her trauma. What makes Diane any different from those reporters? And who is Diane to even be involved in the first place?. She was not involved in the harassment. She did not know this person. People are entitled to their privacy, especially in a traumatic event. Maybe Diane couldn’t get her to speak bc she didn’t want to be found or speak at all.

2. Her involvement is found out and Hank goes after her. Hank uses one of his employees as a ruse to trap Diane. The employee is clearly uncomfortable with the situation… she would have not been dragged into this situation if Diane and Hank weren’t both fighting. Out of the three people in the room, the poor employee is the one with the least amount of power. She’s quite literally being cornered by Hank and (to a lesser extent, but still responsible) Diane.

3. This whole fiasco really just goes back to Diane’s depression. She’s a writer who can’t write unless she’s writing about something bad. She goes into a depressive episode and holds onto the bad things in life. This is just like the argument about the plastic spoons with Guy, or the Whitewhale thing… bad things happen and sometimes they are out of our control. It is not up to an individual to tackle these stories. Diane can’t change the world by doing this alone. She’s so focused on being a “hero” or whatever but ultimately ends up hurting herself even more bc she eventually realizes she hadn’t made a dent.

I disagree on PB’s reasoning about her critiques impacting his show ratings. However, I do agree with PB when he is worried about his literal wife, whom he loves, getting death threats daily. Mountains and mountains of death threats. He is quite literally worried for her and I’m shocked that no one realized that Diane would have a legitimate reason to stop but chose not to do so.

I think that Diane is in the wrong - but it’s not because she shouldn’t have spoken up, or not gotten upset, or anything like that.

It’s because Mr. Peanutbutter was her partner. And Diane got wrapped up in something that would have affected Mr. Peanutbutter without talking to him about it, and even after promising not to do something like she did. They should have been a team.

If they had discussed it together first, maybe they could have found a compromise that would work for both of them. Maybe PB could even have supported her in her actions. Instead, they were publicly cast as oppositional forces.

The lack of teamwork in their relationship is a big part of why they broke up.

In general, the show has a ‘nothing really changes’ philosophy, and feels like this type of exposé journalism eventually doesn’t change anything. Like the WTIIRN sex scandal eventually just ruined the female employees’ jobs while that sex bot got a second chance.

Specifically, it shows that it does more harm than good in Diane’s case. As shown in Good Damage, she has faced the injustices of the world and wants to help bring justice to evil people like Hank and WW. However, this incessant need to prove herself is only harming her, causing her to spiral in loathing and depression. It’s only when she gives up can she begin to feel happy again.

Was her heart in the right place and was she morally in the right? Yes. Did she go off without thinking of the consequences her actions would have on people close to her in a way reminiscent of some of the more toxic characters in the show? Also yes. Make of that what you will

I think to discuss this you also need to bring in the previous conversation Diane and Mr PB had on the topic. Before the Hank stuff came up he asked her to please not get wrapped up in any controversy, because his career was kind of stalled before his new show and he needed the new show to go well. And she agrees she will.

I think that plays into his annoyance at her in the conversation - not just doing it at all, but the fact she said she’d do one thing, then does the other (presumably) without giving him a heads up or anything.

He is in my worldview probably wrong for asking her to not speak up about Hank, but she was in the wrong for fanning a controversy after explicitly agreeing not to, without really telling him beforehand or discussing it with him.

Why is everyone saying that this issue doesn’t effect her? She’s speaking out for women who are mistreated in the industry. She is a woman in the industry. She has every right to speak up about this issue in my opinion

I think both of them were in the right, but PB was ultimately more in the right, if that makes sense.

Yes, what Hank did was reprehensible, and somebody should have found a way to bring him to justice, because what he did was wrong. I completely sympathize with Diane’s view.

But PB was also right. Realistically, what the fuck was Diane going to do about anything at all? She didn’t have the institutional power to punish Hank and she didn’t have the celebrity to sway public opinion against Hank in any meaningful way.

On PB’s side of things, Diane’s crusade was threatening the success of HS&C, his only source of income he had at the time (very important when you’re a celebrity who has to maintain a certain lifestyle. And Diane’s job in S2 wasn’t exactly the most profitable thing in the world.)

Also, the literal DEATH THREATS that were being sent to PB and Diane. She was getting up in arms about something that, whether it had anything to do with her or not, was actively putting herself and her husband in danger. We don’t see it in Diane because she’s too busy arguing on MSNBSea to find the death threats, but we see the way it affects PB. It’s not a healthy way to live, and if she’d continued, who knows what could’ve happened to the two of them.

Mr. PB works directly with Uncle Hanky. Directly. Their shows are heavily cross-promoted. They’re on billboards together.

Does Diane need to be the one to take Uncle Hanky down? Not necessarily. There’s a lot of fucked up shit happening in the world all the time. Sometimes you’ve got to pick your battles.

But when Mr. PB goes to work the next day, work that involves making nice with this actual rapist and promoting his show, he is now actively complicit in covering for his crimes. Why? So he can continue to live in a very nice house? So he doesn’t have to go back to work at Lady Footlocker? How do you look yourself in the mirror after that?

I understand PB’s point, but I have a certain level of admiration for Diane holding to her convictions. She holds everyone, including herself to very high moral standards- and yes, to the point it can be unhealthy. I’m very similar in that when something needs to be said, it feels wrong for me not to be the one saying something. I’m often not confident enough to do this, though, and in some ways I wish I could do what Diane does and be that firm about it. At the same time I know this very rigid black-and-white thinking sometimes is a problem and Diane is very much a flawed character. We are almost too alike