Dwight Schrute was a warning: Fifteen years later, it’s hard to watch The Office character without seeing tragedy

The Atlantic

Earlier this month, Sarah Rosenthal speculated in a Medium essay that Rainn Wilson's character's toxic masculinity might lead him to be a Proud Boy in 2020. Rosenthal said that Dwight predicted a world “defined by anxious men, desperate to feel powerful the way they might have in a bygone era, while insensitive to the humanity of others.” In The Atlantic, Megan Garber points to Rosenthal's essay, and adds that Dwight Schrute "anticipated a political condition in which hypocrisy would be so widespread—and so absurdly brazen—as to be atmospheric. Dwight is, in his contours, Mitch McConnell. He is Brian Kemp. He is Donald Trump. He is someone who imposes his will on everyone else and then says, when they object, That is the law according to the rules. Hypocrisy at this extreme is hard to talk about. American political language is simply not equipped to contend with actors who are so Schrutily immune to shame. Pundits continue to describe speeches that Trump recites without ad-libbed cruelty as evidence of 'presidential' behavior. During his 'debate' with Joe Biden in late September, Trump lied and yelled and ceaselessly interrupted his opponent. Mike Pence, conversely, in his own event, lied calmly; his performance was categorized as an exercise in civility. Lies are not civil. But this is precisely how hypocrisy can compromise habits of language. Shamelessness changes every equation." But Garber credits The Office writers for steering Dwight in the right direction. "By the end of The Office’s nine-season run, Dwight Schrute’s contradictions have resolved into a kind of order," she says. "He has come to see his colleagues not as his subjects, but as his equals. An “agent of chaos,” his arc has acknowledged, is simply not a sustainable character. The Office was wise in many ways, but its greatest insight might be this: It knew when to stop humoring the guy who, in the name of workplace safety, sets the whole office on fire."