The bigotry of Glee

bigot – a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially :  one who regards or treats the members of a group with hatred and intolerance. —Merriam-Webster.com. Accessed January 14, 2015.

By definition, the writers of Glee, a comedy that airs on the Fox television network, and many liberal progressives, are bigots.

Glee is about a group of high school misfits from Lima, Ohio who find a home in the school's decidedly un-cool vocal music group, the glee club. The writers have assembled an outrageous mashup of archetypes, including: the diva Rachel, a Jewish American princess with two gay dads; the football star with heart, Finn, who joins the glee club to the chagrin of his teammates; Noah Puckerman ("Puck"), the juvenile delinquent; the wheelchair-bound Artie; the gay teens Kurt and Blaine; the strait-laced cheerleader Quinn; the African-American diva (and Rachel's frequent rival) Mercedes; and lesbian lovers Brittany and Santana.

With dozens of awards over six seasons (including Emmy and Golden Globe awards), often brilliant rapid-fire comedy, touching story lines, and terrific musical numbers that have spawned large album and digital download sales, a 3D concert movie and a live tour, Glee is as entertaining as it is controversial. Its teen and adult characters are hyper-sexualized, with gay, lesbian, transgender, and transvestite behavior (oh, and I almost forgot: hetero promiscuity) out and celebrated.

The not-unexpected irony of this very Hollywood production (filmed in L.A., not Ohio) is that one group of kids at the fictional McKinley High School is not treated kindly or even tolerated very much: conservatives. Conservative students are portrayed in ridiculous straw-man caricatures in several episodes.

Quinn, president of the Celibacy Club whose Glenn Beck-watching parents get lampooned in Season 1, ironically becomes pregnant. In the current season, the following scene pretty much sums up the liberal agenda of the show (the young adult main cast are all McKinley alumni now in the series storyline):

Puck walks in with Mercedes, Tina, Quinn and Sam to the Tea Party Patriot Club, calling them teabaggers. They put down muffins for them, Quinn explaining about their life in McKinley, saying how the Celibacy Club and the God Squad were popular. Mercedes asks if they're Christians, to which they reply they all are. Quinn once again says she only hung out with people just like her, Tina saying she [Quinn] changed for the better, after getting pregnant by Puck.

A member reveals that the TPPC is the most popular group in McKinley. Tina replies how horrible it is and questions what happens to America. The leader starts to reply, Mercedes listening to him, saying they’ve had the worst economic depression in history, stating that allowing equality in sexes and different ethnicities, has brought it upon them. Mercedes, looking horrified, repulsed by them, states how ignorant, homophobic and discriminating they are, to which the alumni agree. Puck, Tina and Mercedes walk out. Quinn walks up to them, taking away the muffins. Sam states how Quinn had sex with a Latina lesbian, from which he says he learnt [sic] in glee club, bumping into Quinn, causing her to laugh, as the TPPC go into chaos.

—Glee Wiki, accessed January 14, 2015, http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Homecoming

In classic Revenge of the Nerds fashion, Glee humorously turns the lunchroom tables on the popular cliques at McKinley High School: the jocks, the cheerleaders, the popular kids, but it reserves a special vitriol for conservative Christians. Liberal bigotry starts as a cold slushy to the face on Glee, and graduates to misogynistic, ad hominem attacks on Sarah Palin and Nikki Haley. Rather than telling a story about bringing people together, Glee and its liberal bedfellows just use far-right bigotry to justfy far-left bigotry.