Like many Americans I grew up watching NBC’s The Office and throughout its seasons inevitably fell in love with the show. Who wouldn’t? The Office’s charming cast, witty writing and alternative shooting style were welcome respites from the flood of cookie-cutter sitcoms and cash-grab reality shows that were en vogue in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, as I’ve become older, more mature and more sensitive to the dangers a president like Donald Trump presents, I’ve also inevitably had to come to terms with the grim truth of the show’s impact on American culture; The Office laid the groundwork for a generation of Americans to be placid and complacent in the leering face of our homegrown problem regarding right-wing indoctrination.

 
I don’t share this aspersion lightly and even now am still hesitant to publicly post these thoughts. To be clear, I don’t think everyone that watches The Office is a closet bigot. However, after Trump’s speech two nights ago coupled with his continued lurch towards making hate encouraged in the United States, I feel it’s my civic duty to help illuminate the cultural steps into the dark that brought us into this derelict pit.

 
For the sake of reading digestibility I’ve broken up the evidence into bullets describing how the show quietly (and explicitly) encourages right-wing values. I try to source each point although I don’t have strict timestamps for all the in-show citations.

• Anemic Representation: Of the 25 characters that appear in at least 25 episodes only 5 are PoC (including Rashida Jones). This may have been acceptable in the early naughts but we now know this isn’t optimal practice with respect to viewership or media representation – just look at the record-breaking success of Black Panther. Additionally, opportunities to celebrate sexual diversity – like Oscar or the State Senator being gay – are undermined by the frustratingly recurring fact that straight actors were hired for the roles instead of real L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ actors.
• Acceptable Intolerance: Michael Scott as a character is emblematic of The Office as a series in that his bumbling yet endearing persona obscures the sinister and damaging worldview that he regularly exhibits. We learn to look past his transgressions and forgive quickly because, hey, no one takes him seriously and at least he’s trying his best otherwise, right? Wrong. Per Karl Poppper, we cannot tolerate any form of intolerance if we want to maintain a just and open society.
• Masked Struggles: One of the darkest unquestioned themes of The Office is the silent exploitation of the workers. Day after day we see Michael goofing off, accomplishing minimal work, while his employees toil just to make ends meet. Rarely if ever does the show pause to scrutinize whether glorifying the life of an office worker in a capitalist system is worthwhile. Instead, we as an audience are taught that it’s normal for employees to accept this state of affairs and that our labor should benefit our boss. [src]
• Punch-Down Comedy: The Office does not hesitate to make abusive jokes about the most vulnerable groups in the United States. Although this humor may not have been eyebrow-raising upon release, I’m sure we now all agree that racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and other forms of bigotry are never an appropriate subject for jokes. Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list as there are many more examples that I didn’t get to – LMK what I may have missed in the comments!
  • Racism & Xenophobia: Stereotyping African-Americans and basketball [s1e5]; Making fun of the Chinese [s2e1]; reinforcing the stereotype that all Asian-Americans look the same [s3e10&11]; having one of the few PoC on the show play the only convicted criminal [s3e9]; assumption that Latinx migrants can’t speak English [s4e15].
  • Misogyny: Jan’s character is written from a chauvinistic man’s POV as ‘bossy’ instead of empowered [s1&2]; Jan is portrayed as the typical 'crazy' girlfriend [s4e13]; Pam and Karen are constantly objectified by Michael [most seasons]; comments on Karen’s lineage oriented around male dominance [s3e8]; involuntary pornography of female employees [s2e10].
  • Homophobia: Implication gays can’t play sports [s1e5]; calling Oscar f*ggy [s3e1]; implication all gay people are art snobs [s3e17]; 0 characters are bi-curious.
  • Cisnormative: 0 characters in the show are trans; implication that crossdressing is a comedic act rather than one of gender identity expression [s3e18].
  • Toxic Masculinity: the warehouse workers constantly rag on Michael for being a ‘weaker’ male; Roy and Jim fight over Pam as if she’s a trophy and not a human [s3e19].
  • Ableism: Michael justifies using ableist slurs [s3e1]; an episode is devoted to making a ‘joke’ out of Kevin being r*traded [s5e1&2].
  • Body Shaming: Kevin is slow and dumb because that’s how all fat people are right? [all episodes]; Michael’s 'small' penis is mocked (this one really got me angry) [s5e14&15).

I hope that we as a community can come together and agree that while this type of comedy was once able to slip by in America, it’s 2019 now and we will no longer tolerate abusive shows like The Office.