View source for Talk:Barney Fife

Has it ever occurred to anyone else that Barney Fife was truly a terrible person?  On most occasions he was pompous and his motivations were self-serving.  He bullied when he could get away with it, and betrayed Andy more than once.  Barney two-timed Thelma Lou, yet expected her to be faithful to him.  The only thing at which Barney excelled was serving as the perfect example of the Dunning–Kruger effect. Most importantly, he was so completely incompetent that his actions put the general public in danger every day he worked.  In spite of being allowed only one bullet, he had many accidental discharges.  He frequently demonstrated cowardice and he routinely slept on the job.  Eventually he relocated to Raleigh and continued this pattern of screwing everything up there.  Without Andy's constant attention, Barney would have been dead before the end of season one.  The only thing Andy really got out of their relationship was a daily chance to demonstrate Christian charity.