History LackOfEmpathy / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'': Just about everyone has shown this in one way or another, but especially Woody and Malloy. The former frequently [[BadBoss mistreats his employees]] ([[LoserProtagonist Steve]] in particular) and is willing to kill or maim those who get in his way; the latter only cares about [[TheHedonist getting what he wants]] with absolutely no regard for others.

** Vlad Masters. He doesn't care if Maddie is already happily married with children because he wants her to be his wife and her son Danny to be his son. He spends much of the show trying to accomplish this. "Masters of All Time" examined an alternate future where Vlad and Maddie got married. The relationship is not a happy one; Vlad appears to treat Maddie more like a trophy that he won from Jack than his wife.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'': Just about everyone has shown this in one way or another, but especially Woody and Malloy. The former frequently [[BadBoss mistreats his employees]] ([[LoserProtagonist Steve]] in particular) and is willing to kill or maim those who get in the way of his goals; the latter only cares about [[TheHedonist getting what he wants]] with absolutely no regard for others.

** Vlad Masters. He doesn't care if Maddie is already happily married with children because he wants her to be his wife and her son Danny to be his son. He spends much of the show trying to accomplish this. One episode that examined an alternate future where Vlad and Maddie got married showed that the relationship would not be a happy one; Vlad appeared to treat Maddie more like a trophy that he won from Jack, rather than his wife.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': [[Characters/FuturamaBenderBendingRodriguez Bender]]. Notable in that he ''is'' capable of love, but not empathy. For example, he loves Fry with all his heart, but in a completely narcissistic fashion, as he only cares about Fry being alive and present so that Bender can love him, not about Fry himself being happy. However, he does have a HeelRealization about this in "Jurassic Bark", when, after being jealous and utterly unsympathetic over Fry's feelings about his old dog Seymour (who Fry is trying to clone) all episode, he [[{{Yandere}} throws the corpse in a volcano]] [[MurderTheHypotenuse to eliminate the competition]]. Fry's grief causes Bender to realize, in a stroke of revelation, that Fry's feelings for Seymour are just like Bender's feelings for Fry, and finally understands what empathy feels like. In the episode "I Second That Emotion", Prof. Farnsworth installs an empathy chip on Bender in order to teach him about empathy. It forces him to feel whatever emotions Leela is feeling at the moment. The episode ends with Bender not learning a thing and continues to be a {{Jerkass}} and Leela acting more like a jerk.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** [[Characters/FuturamaBenderBendingRodriguez Bender]]. Notable in that he ''is'' capable of love, but not empathy. For example, he loves Fry with all his heart, but in a completely narcissistic fashion, as he only cares about Fry being alive and present so that Bender can love him, not about Fry himself being happy. However, he does have a HeelRealization about this in "Jurassic Bark", when, after being jealous and utterly unsympathetic over Fry's feelings about his old dog Seymour (who Fry is trying to clone) all episode, he [[{{Yandere}} throws the corpse in a volcano]] [[MurderTheHypotenuse to eliminate the competition]]. Fry's grief causes Bender to realize, in a stroke of revelation, that Fry's feelings for Seymour are just like Bender's feelings for Fry, and finally understands what empathy feels like.
*** In the episode "I Second That Emotion", Prof. Farnsworth installs an empathy chip on Bender in order to teach him about empathy. It forces him to feel whatever emotions Leela is feeling at the moment. The episode ends with Bender not learning a thing and continues to be a {{Jerkass}} and Leela acting more like a jerk.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Velma}}'': [[Characters/VelmaTitularCharacter Velma Dinkley]], at her core, is a self-centered individual who believes everyone should cater to her desires, even when it inconveniences her tremendously. She often makes big demands but never considers returning the favor at all. She never says sorry when any of her actions harm others, like when Fred got arrested due to her pinning the blame on him and bullying him in court. She even says she finds delight that a rich white guy like him got wrongfully convicted, or when she tried to publicly humiliate Daphne to win the tournament and refused to admit she did anything wrong. [[spoiler:A prime example is when, in the season one finale, instead of feeling sorry that Fred lost his mother, she gloats about solving the case and distastefully twerks in front of her corpse.]]