So I was, naturally, reflecting on what’s apparently canonical “zero empathy”, with Caine.
I’ve already done a post on why he’s definitively not NPD.
However, this zero empathy thing is actually yet another aspect that this story probably inadvertently tripped over shining a spotlight on: Caine is- sort of- (not entirely, because he does experience normal love, just has no idea how to apply it) like what would happen if a sociopath had practically no enjoyment of others’ sufferings (“I’m not having fun”) and zero manipulation skills (at multiple points he just throws out what he pathetically hopes people think- at the dinner Jax distractedly confirms it to get things over with, and after the Lightning Round, nobody responds). Not sure if I've already covered this or if it's in my Queue, but guys. Caine is still Caine. The theorizers were wrong. This is maintained by canon. As evidenced above. Unlike his newly revealed grasp of what will bluntly hurt them maximally, he has no idea how to go about subtlety. "Can't believe you missed the context clues. What are you, stupid?" < this is like literally. A fourth grade level insult. So. Before episode 8. He had. Just good ol fashioned, earnest desire to please people, desire for them to think like he wants them to, but with none of the human experience or intuition to even fake it or apply emotional pressure. As in. He's still mainly oblivious, just as Gooseworx has said!
(unlike fanon that projects various creators’ knowledge on how to do so, with Caine’s lifeless aesthetic corpse walking around the narrative or comic being puppeted by them. One of the most egregious iterations of OOC I’ve ever seen in any fandom ever, hence why I’m so caustic about it. And hence why I keep encouraging the PSA to TAG “Caine neg” onto content and meta, to encourage others to bring it up when they see content like that, so the fandom can keep to their corners and get rankled less and fight less, if they want.)
Caine canonically winds up being a totally weird but perhaps fitting ambassador to Cluster B disorder people. Not that he’s alike to them in practically any way but 1 dimension, but that the fans, especially casual ones on more mainstream social media, that say “well he can’t feel bad for the cast, ergo he deserved death and that was the only solution” are unknowingly speaking STRAIGHT to Cluster B people and saying,
“you deserve not to exist.”
Crypto-ableism is a b%#&h.
Meanwhile Caine, who gathers as his devotees at least the perceptive side of the fanbase, is a reply, “No. People who are abnormal DO deserve to exist. They deserve societal interventions. They deserve to learn to be better. To be mentored and instructed. They deserve to be extended the chance to learn the rational skill of ‘cognitive empathy.’” (again not quite sure I've covered that yet or if it's in my queue.)
Sometimes equally as unintentional. It’s the subtext.
#VoidPunk Caine
This fandom dynamic, whether consciously recognized or otherwise, is going to be true whether or not the narrative reflects on how the humans could’ve been kinder to him or reached out to him even once during two decades.
I’m very fond of saying that nothing like TADC or Caine will probably ever exist again, except by imitation. And I stand by that.
But if there are other robot characters like this, reccs welcome.