History Main / StoppedCaring

* In ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'', this is an inevitable effect of working for [[IncompetenceInc the company]] with its [[ObstructiveBureaucrat useless]], sadistic, or outright [[CorruptCorporateExecutive criminal]] administration; its {{Pointy Haired Boss}}es; and its soul-numbing office environment. [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2003-02-16/ They call it the numbing]], and ProfessionalSlacker Wally is its endpoint.

* Used during a ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch, when a spurned member of GIJoe decides to join Cobra after being mocked, and stuck with the codename "Fumbles". Only for Cobra Commander to give him a bad one as well.

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': Bluestar does this in the later part of the first series, convinced that her Clan is full of traitors and that [[RageAgainstTheHeavens [=StarClan=] is at war with her Clan]].

* Winston Payne in ''FanFic/DirtySympathy'', he has a [[GenreSavvy better good idea what's going on.]] But knows that with the personalities he deals he shouldn't even bother.

* Winston Payne in ''FanFic/DirtySympathy'', he has a [[GenreSavy better good idea what's going on.]] But knows that with the personalities he deals he shouldn't even bother.

* Possibly the "rich hottie" in ''{{Local}}'' #8. He's rich, gorgeous, and considerate, but Megan ends up deciding it "just isn't right" and leaves his bed giving the ItsNotYouItsMe line, to which he replies "it never is". Megan sees this as proving that he's secretly a jerk, but [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation alternatively]], the poor guy has been through this routine so many times that he's completely indifferent to what she thinks of him now since he knows she's not coming back. It's the easiest explanation for why [[spoiler:his doorman "knows the drill". How many {{Jerkass}} [[TheCasanova Casanovas]] have a doorman who's used to calling a cab for women to go home in the middle of the night?]]

[[caption-width-right:263:The hopelessness hits an ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}'' pusher.]]

* Absolutely ''not'' played for laughs with [[spoiler:Leo]] from PandoraHearts. After [[spoiler:Elliot's death ([[ItsAllMyFault of which he blames himself]])]], he pulls a FaceHeelTurn in order to [[spoiler:perform his duties as Glen]], but he even admits to himself that he hates everything and that "in the end... nothing mattered anymore."

* Possibly the "rich hottie" in ''{{Local}}'' #8. He's rich, gorgeous, and considerate, but Megan ends up deciding it "just isn't right" and leaves his bed giving the ItsNotYouItsMe line, to which he replies "it never is". Megan sees this as proving that he's secretly a jerk, but [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation alternatively]], the poor guy has been through this routine so many times that he's completely indifferent to what she thinks of him now since he knows she's not coming back. It's the easiest explanation for why [[spoiler:his doorman "knows the drill". How many JerkAss {{The Casanova}}s have a doorman who's used to calling a cab for women to go home in the middle of the night?]].

* In ''{{Doonesbury}}'', this is what's happened to Walden's President King. Frustrated with the (ultimately successful) attempts of students to segregate themselves in the early 1990s, he's since become completely indifferent to his job, allowing Walden to languish into a low-tier party school where students don't even make a pretense of planning for their futures. At one memorable commencement address, he even stated this outright to the students, asking who would ditch his degree right now if he could become a writer for ''FamilyGuy''. All of the students promptly raised their hands, except for one who was scared of the KillerBees that live in California.

A character, having faced an indifferent world for so long, finally gives up all pretense of trying. He does the bare minimum to try to get his job done and makes no effort of initiative elsewhere. He knows that whatever he tries isn't going to work, so it's just easier to be jaded and cynical, and right then to be constantly disappointed by plans that never work.

[[quoteright:263:[[PennyArcade http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pennycare_4564.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:263:The hopelessness hits an {{Everquest}} pusher.]]

The meta-counterpart of TheyJustDidntCare. When used seriously, the character has probably crossed the DespairEventHorizon. Compare GivingUpOnLogic. If a work does this to its audience, it's EightDeadlyWords.

* Possibly the "rich hottie" in ''{{Local}}'' #8. He's rich, gorgeous, and considerate, but Megan ends up deciding it "just isn't right" and leaves his bed giving the ItsNotYouItsMe line, to which he replies "it never is". Megan sees this as proving that he's secretly a jerk, but [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation alternatively]], the poor guy has been through this routine so many times that he's completely indifferent to what she thinks of him now since he knows she's not coming back. It's the easiest explanation for why [[spoiler:his doorman "knows the drill". How many JerkAss TheCasanovas have a doorman who's used to calling a cab for women to go home in the middle of the night?]].

* Possibly the "rich hottie" in ''{{Local}}'' #8. He's rich, gorgeous, and considerate, but Megan ends up deciding it "just isn't right" and leaves his bed giving the ItsNotYouItsMe line, to which he replies "it never is". Megan sees this as proving that he's secretly a jerk, but [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation alternatively]], the poor guy has been through this routine so many times that he's completely indifferent to what she thinks of him now since he knows she's not coming back. It's the easiest explanation for why [[spoiler:his doorman "knows the drill". How many JerkAss {{Casanova}}s have a doorman who's used to calling a cab for women to go home in the middle of the night?]].

* ''InvaderZim'': A problem the writers had with Dib near the end of the show's run was that he was becoming this trope, thus ruining the central conflict of the premise. This is most evident in [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Zim Eats Waffles]] wherein after having been humiliated in front of his teammates at the Swollen Eyeball and having his room destroyed by robots, Dib [[BigNo screams]] only briefly, then simply mumbles "whatever...", and goes to bed.

* ''WarriorCats'': Bluestar does this in the later part of the first series, convinced that her Clan is full of traitors and that [[RageAgainstTheHeavens [=StarClan=] is at war with her Clan]].

The meta-counterpart of TheyJustDidntCare. When used seriously, the character has probably crossed the DespairEventHorizon. Compare GivingUpOnLogic.

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}

* In ''{{Doonesbury}}'', this is what's happened to Walden's President King. Frustrated with the (ultimately successful) attempts of students to segregate themselves in the early 1990s, he's since become completely indifferent to his job, allowing Walden to languish into a low-tier party school where students don't even make a pretense of planning for their futures. At one memorable commencement address, he even stated this outright to the students, asking who would ditch his degree right now if he could become a writer for ''FamilyGuy''. All of the students promptly raised their hands, except for one who was scared of the KillerBees that live in California.
* ''TheSimpsons'' has a couple of examples:
** Reverend Lovejoy started out as an eager young minster willing to help his parishioners, but was worn down by Ned Flanders' incessant griping. "Finally, I just stopped caring. Fortunately, by that time it was [[TheEighties the 1980s]] and no one noticed."
** Mrs. Krabappel was a dedicated teacher until she met up with Bart.
** Bart Simpson was really enthusiastic about school until he met up with the ''worst'' kindergarten teacher.

* ''InvaderZim'': A problem the writers had with Dib near the end of the show's run was that he was becoming this trope, thus ruining the central conflict of the premise. This is most evident in [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Zim Eats Waffles]] wherein after having been humiliated in front of his teammates at the Swollen Eyeball and having his room destroyed by robots, Dib [[BigNo screams]] only briefly, then simply mumbles "whatever...", and goes to bed.

* RealLife example: When the Visigoth king Alaric I sacked Rome for the third time in August 410, the citizenry of the severely weakened and demoralized city offered no real resistance. (Historians disagree on whether the famous opening of the Salarian Gate by Roman slaves, to let in Alaric's army, was the city's ultimate expression of this trope, or whether it was a plot in which Visigoth soldiers infiltrated Rome by going undercover as slaves.)

The meta-counterpart of TheyJustDidntCare. When used seriously, the character has probably crossed the DespairEventHorizon.