How I Met Your Mother and Philosophy by Lorenzo von Matterhorn Page B

emotions have structured the world is only helping him be that way. Yet there’s always hope for Barney.
    He has broken out of bad faith before and he can do it again. As time goes on, he’s becoming more and more unhappy with his created persona. Most importantly, it is getting harder for him to be happy with one-night stands, when he knows that he is in love with Robin. More and more often, he is realizing other options that are available to him. It’s getting more difficult to predict what he will do next. As his emotions change, his magical world will start to break apart, and it will become progressively easier for him to act freely. All we can do is . . . wait for it.

6
    The Bro Code as a Relational Starter
    F RANK G. K ARIORIS
    K ids, in the nineteenth century famous bro Mark Twain remarked “To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” And here is Friedrich Nietzsche: “Shared joys, not shared sufferings, make a friend.”
    Bros have existed for millennia and have remained a constant necessity. It is high time that Barney is given a place amongst history’s great bros and is recognized for his brilliant contribution to relationships, embodied with the publication of The Bro Code . But Barney’s contributions may not be all positive and one should question whether this is negated by the harm done with The Playbook and its fixation on conning women into bed.
    Throughout the years, Barney has told countless stories, and elaborated on more than his fair share of rules (“I only have one rule . . .”) and theories, from the Lemon Law to the Platinum Rule to the Mermaid Theory (necessarily covering all the bases of legal, regulatory, and theoretical rules). Amongst these countless theories and laws that Barney has put forth, there is a particular set of rules which form the basis for men’s relationships with each other. These rules, together, form the Bro Code.
    The Bro Code is a series of rules and laws governing the behavior between two or more bros. It is, in essence, the Bible for relations between men. And, much like the Bible, it’s full of many useful pieces of wisdom as well as some not so helpful ones. And also like the Bible, there are inconsistencies, errors, omissions, and some items which are just plain stupid. As almost an exact biblical reference, Article 60 states that oneshould honor thy mother and father—of course giving a vastly different reasoning for such a rule (“A Bro shall honor thy father and mother, for they were once Bro and Chick”).
    While first set down in writing in 1776 by Barnabus Stinson on the back of the Constitution (“The Goat”), the Bro Code has a long history stretching back to biblical times. Pulled together from various fragmentary sets of rules, the Bro Code aims to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood between men, and to assist men in getting laid—the most important challenge society faces according to the Bro Code.
    The most important contribution of the Bro Code has nothing to do with getting laid. The true importance of the Bro Code is the realization and strengthening of the bonds of ‘brotherhood’—between men, and between men and women.
    Much like one contextualizes earlier authors for racism, political beliefs, or other opinions which we in the twenty-first century have moved beyond, it is with a similar notion that we should approach the Bro Code. For there is certainly sexism in various parts of the Bro Code (let’s just admit it). Just as we can look past the fact that George Washington had slaves, I hope you will look beyond the sexism as I show how the Bro Code can be used as a starting place for improving men’s relations with other men, and, surprisingly, women.
    To Bro or Not to Bro
    There’s a distinct difference between a bro and a friend, though the exact nature of this difference might not always be clear. The Code says that a bro is