Dwight pretending to strangle Jim
Dwight was continually proven to be a knowledgeable salesperson, and an overall intelligent human being, however, this was overshadowed in his less glorious moments in the show. During the pilot season, Dwight is shown to have been the hardest worker having claimed several employee of the month awards, and he even received two for outselling himself in February. Dwight also was able to conduct an interesting fire safety drill after his unsuccessful seminar on the same topic. This fire drill led to the “Scratonites” being more fire aware, and in the end, Dwight accomplished his ultimate goal. He even continued to believe what he was right even after the corporate scolded him. Some may say that this makes Dwight stubborn, however, others would argue it shows how much Dwight cared about his friends; Why would he go through all that work? To ensure that in the event of a real fire his friends would know what to do.
Dwight was also proven to be a great friend in several other moments of the show, namely his dedication to Micheal despite Michael’s often awful treatment of Dwight. In season 2, when Michael steps on his grill and burns his foot, Dwight rushes to get to Michael, even after suffering a concussion. Dwight later stopped Michael from ingesting poisonous mushrooms, in Survivor Man. Dwight also never hesitated to defend his greatest enemy. When Roy came into the office with intentions to severely harm Jim, Dwight showed no hesitation as he leaped up defending Jim from the attack.
Not only was Dwight mis-pictured in the show, but people also rushed to defend Jim, only because Jim had charisma, something Dwight lacked. Jim’s effortless conversation and charm made him loved by fans even though he was a horrible character because of his treatment of Dwight, Karen, and eventually Pam.
Jim Halpert was especially cruel to Dwight for the reason of Dwight being a rule follower. One of the worst things Jim ever did to Dwight and Michael alike was putting up a fake resume for Dwight, messing with his job security. Not only did Jim keep on trying to get Dwight to leave during the season two Halloween episode, but he claimed that if Dwight didn’t exceed their expectations then they could hold Michael Scott financially responsible. This could’ve potentially put Michael into bankruptcy, and maybe even ruined his life. While most of his pranks against Dwight were admittedly harmless, there were several that could’ve resulted in the death or serious injury of Dwight. And Jim was just amused. However, his worst crime against Dwight was when he again put Dwight’s career in jeopardy when he told Dwight there was an abandoned baby in the women's room, and so Dwight barged in only to see Meredith. Not only would this probably traumatize Meredith, but in any office not run by Michael, he would have been fired.
Not only was his treatment to Dwight appalling, but he also showed horrid behavior towards his lovers, namely Pam. Initially, Jim starts dating Karen as a rebound, however, his relationship with Karen lasted longer than most rebounds. But what was most horrible was when Karen wanted to move closer to him, and Jim gets mad at her for it. Then, when he discovers that Pam is into him, he dumps Karen. After dumping Karen, he soon marries Pam, only to treat her worse.
Initially, Jim wasn’t horrible to Pam and his kids, only in the last two seasons when he was too far gone. Primarily, he starts by only doing small things to Pam, such as leaving her out of his Best Dad Dundie acceptance speech. However, from there he quickly continues to alienate Pam, as he takes his Athlead job. Taking the job in itself isn’t the problem, the problem happens when he took it without so much as telling Pam, let alone consulting her. At first, she doesn’t support him, which he gets mad at her for. Then, shortly after accepting the job, he pitches in ten thousand dollars just so he can look like a team player. He also did this without asking or consulting Pam. When Jim decides to move to Philly, he doesn’t even inform Pam, until of course after he’s made the decision and told all of his new co-workers his plan. This is all culminating into him missing Cece’s ballet recital, which Pam accidentally doesn’t film. Upon hearing this Jim begins constantly yelling at Pam, not even giving her a chance to say something, and then hangs up.
Rebuttal
Many people disagree with this essay and the fact that Jim is a bad person, while Dwight is amazing. One of the three main points that others argue is that when Dwight started the mock fire, he gave Stanley a heart attack which was ultimately negative. Although it is hard to believe, it was good that Stanley had a heart attack, as it was inevitable one way or the other because certain heart attacks are indeed inevitable (Mayoclinic). It was a good thing that Stanley had a heart attack in the office because there were people to call the ambulance and help partially resuscitate him. If he had suffered a heart attack outside of the office, he might not have made it. Another point people that people argue is that when Dwight became acting regional manager, he discharged a weapon in the office. The weapon was only discharged because everybody kept telling him to remove it from his holster, and put it away. If they hadn’t yelled at him about it, he wouldn’t have taken it out of his holster, so he wouldn’t have fired it. People say that Dwight wasn’t that polite, because at Phyllis’s wedding he threw out Phyllis’s great uncle. But, Dwight only did this on a prank from Jim, and without Jim’s misguidance in this situation, Dwight would’ve been a proper wedding guest.
So, as seen above Dwight’s most mistakes are not mistakes and Jim Halpert is not the best character on the show. If Jim really was the best, he wouldn’t have been so awful to so many people in the office. Dwight is the best because he does what is right, even when it makes him popular or unpopular.
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