Two Kinds Of People In the World

"There are two types of people in the world..." 

The internet is littered with memes set around this topic. 

A lot of them invoke a normal expectation for one group and more extreme reaction by the second group. 

There are some that are inspirational in nature.  

Some of these memes actually challenge the very concept of "there are two kinds of people". 

It's certainly a funny conceit to easily compartmentalize a whole planet of people into two easily identifiable groups. 

But the fact of the matter is that there are way too many unique persons in this world to distill people down to one type or another. 

The need to force people into two types seems to come in my experience from a perspective of frustration with the human race. 

I would point out that the previous example indicates there are in fact THREE types of people in the world: madmen, idiots and you. 

Most "two kinds of people" concepts provide a choice, to be part of a group that "gets it" and not part of the other group that that goes, "Huh?"  

If you're wondering from the previous example, "OK, what is the 2nd type of people?", then know that the cat in the glasses and bow tie is mocking you. 

And you'll be stumped by the next one.  

It does seem that the whole "there are two kinds of people in the world" thing is frequently predicated on the position that people are in some kind of balanced diametric opposition to one another. 

But life rarely breaks down in a simple "two kinds of people" thing. But damned if we don't try. There are two kinds of people in this world:  

• Democrats and Republicans
• DC fans and Marvel fans
• Cake bakers and pie aficionados 
• Christians and people who are not Christians. Or you can replace "Christians" with "Muslims", "Jews" or any other religious affiliation and get the same results. 
• Tastes great and less filling
• Cat people and dog people

Or simply put...

People who are right and the others who are wrong

The truth of the matter is that there are not two kinds of people in the world. Any expectations for ideological or political purity are going to be disappointed. Our insistence that people including ourselves keeps ourselves in lockstep with one side or another is a recipe for disaster. Every potential configuration of what makes a person a person splinters any preconception of the world as being on one side or another.  

But if you insist on thinking there are two kinds of people in the world, give this one a whirl: 

Thank you for dropping by. Remember to be good to one another. I'll be back with another post tomorrow.