It Doesn't Have to Be Like This When It Can Also Be Like This / X Has 2 Hands

Submission 1,834

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About

It Doesn't Have to Be Like This When It Can Also Be Like This or X Has 2 Hands refers to an exploitable graphic of two people holding hands in the upper half with a third rising from the bottom captioned "It doesn't have to be like this," followed by an image of two pairs of people holding hands, captioned, "when it can also be like this," the bottom reading, "X has 2 hands." The earliest known version of the meme was posted to Imgur in 2014 and is about the relationship between Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and believers and spread over the following years.

Origin

The earliest known version of the meme was posted to Imgur^[1] on March 16th, 2014 and shared on a forum thread on ilxor.com^[2] titled RIP Justin Bieber (shown below). The meme is about the relationship between Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and his jealous fans (shown below). On March 16th, 2016, the meme was reposted to Tumblr,^[3] garnering over 135,000 notes in seven years.

Spread

The meme gained viral spread over the following years, inspiring numerous variations. On April 5th, 2017, Tumblr^[4] user queerspacerock posted a version that gained over 11,000 notes in six years (shown below, left). On January 15th, 2021, Tumblr^[5] user autisticyue posted a version referencing Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was reposted by Facebook^[6] page Everything Team Avatar on January 29th, 2023, garnering over 2,000 reactions in six months (shown below, right).

On May 9th, 2023, Facebook^[7] page Genshin Memes posted a version of the meme about Genshin Impact that garnered over 3,100 reactions and 340 shares in two months (shown below).