I find it really funny that TNG insists Data doesn't experience or understand emotions (until he gets that emotion chip way later on) but it's so extremely obvious that he does, just not in the traditional sense. He clearly experiences joy, wonder, sadness, internal conflict, confusion, desire, etc. throughout the show.
Data ain't emotionless he's just an autistic man! And when you look at it that way it makes the way everyone treats him and how he's singled out as "odd" and "other" feel really sad. Nobody can really connect with him through usual means. He finds it difficult or impossible to emotionally relate to his crewmates, and spends a good chunk of his character-focused episodes trying to wrap his mind around the neurotypical experience. But they all still do their best to treat him with respect.
To that end, Measure of a Man is the episode where Autism Speaks shows up to study the autistic man and deprive him of his basic rights.
