How to test your partner's love
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Interactions with other people, despite the digital revolution, is still a daily occurrence. I’d argue that no matter how far we take machines, automated robots (ie. automated phone operators and digital menus), or artificial intelligence (AI) there will always be a natural tendency for us to form relationships. Film and media feels the same way. Take your pick of any futuristic movie about machines and AI; iRobot with Will Smith, Bicentennial Man with Robin Williams, Her with Scarlett Johansson, or Ex Machina with Domhnall Gleeson, though they may focus on relationships with humans and robots, interhuman relationships are also a large part of the plot.
In any relationship it is completely natural to wonder, at one point or another, exactly how much the other entity cares or loves for you. Though this notion is most often vocalized and attributed to women, men are humans too. For example, sometimes when I am sitting at home petting my dog I wonder just how much she cares about me. Any number of imaginary scenarios plays in my head where I am in some sort of fight and my little 8 kg, timid pooch comes to my rescue, taking a big chunk out of my attacker’s leg. Yea, probably wishful thinking.
To find out just how strong our friend’s or partner’s feelings are we sometimes devise little tests; despite our natural reluctance to admit it. If you think hard enough you will likely remember a time when you put your significant other through some sort of test. Whether it’s letting them order for you at a dinner (to see if they know your tastes), or ‘allowing’ them to make a decision whether to go out on a date with you or go with friends (who do you love more?), or just noticing if they offer to clean up after you cooked a meal (how much do they sympathize with me/ want to help me), we all have these little tests that help us filter potential mates.
In romantic relationships, however, it is this tinge of imagination mixed with a sizeable portion of insecurities that can make things get a bit out of hand. Such was the case for Zhao, a 25-year-old woman from Shaoyang in Hunan Province.
After the honeymoon phase with her boyfriend Zeng things were a bit rocky. They constantly argued and Zhao felt the relationship was falling apart. Apparently as some sort of twisted new year resolution she decided to kidnap herself to test his true feelings.
On January 1st, with the help of a man she had met online she staged her own kidnapping. Together they tied Zhao up with packing tape and sent Zeng a series of alarming videos and images. The messages were accompanied with a single simple demand, a ¥20,000 ransom.
Shocked, Zeng searched for his girlfriend, but when he wasn’t able to find her, he called the police. According to Sixth Tone, it only took a little while for police to discern what was really going on.
When police finally caught up with her, she was arrested for “disrupting public order” and spent a week in jail: a common punishment for minor offenses. There’s no word if Zhao and Zeng have been able to work out their differences. But for her sake, I hope she finds the time to watch Gone Girl a few more times so she could put on a better fake kidnapping next time she’s feeling insecure.
One of the images Zhao and her accomplice sent to her boyfriend after being ‘kidnapped.’
It may come as a surprise to some of you, but this ‘fake kidnapping’ scheme isn’t all that uncommon, though the motive is usually cash. At essentially the same time as Zhao’s ‘kidnapping,’ a father and son duo in New South Wales, Australia staged the kidnapping father, 47-year-old Sung Sub. After publicizing the kidnapping and ransom demands, his 21-year-old son asked the community with help raising the ransom money. A lot of ransom money: $200,000 or ¥1.3 million.
The plot was foiled when the father, supposedly in the grips of his captors, was seen on surveillance footage in a different city. Unsurprisingly, the father was already on bail for robbery and remains in custody. The son was released on bail; both are awaiting trials.
The 21-year-old son, Gyu Tae Kim was released on bail.
Another ongoing case comes from Northern California after a woman disappeared while on a morning run. The original abduction occurred on November 2, 2016. In the following days, the search for Papini made national headlines. Then on November 25th the victim, Sherri Papini (34 years old), turned up three weeks later virtually unscathed. When police found her 225km away she was still bound and covered in bruises. There are also reports that she was branded but no further details are available.
Papini’s account of the ordeal is what raises questions. She says that she was abducted by two Hispanic women. That’s odd because there are very few cases where grown women kidnap other grown women. After being held for weeks by the two women Papini could only offer a very general description of the attackers and the whole ordeal. This is questionable but completely unfathomable. But the fact that she was alive at all is another pillar of suspicion. After being held captive for weeks few people make it out alive. Finally, the lack of a ransom, or any demand at all, and lack of motive are also causing people to voice their concern.
More than two months after the abduction the investigation is ongoing and no motive can be ascertained. The only probable motive that has emerged for the alleged abduction is an anti-Latino blog post that Sherri Papini wrote 13 years ago under her maiden name, Graef.
To be fair, just as there is no motive for the abduction, there is also no apparent motive for Sherri Papini to stage her own kidnapping- unless of course she was testing her husband’s love.
Sherri and Keith Papini
Sources: The Daily Telegraph, CNN, & Inquisitr.com
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