About

I Know What Kind of Man You Are is an exploitable image macro and reaction meme depicting The Walking Dead (TWD) character Dale Horvath (played by actor Jeffrey DeMunn) confronting Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) and accusing him of being capable of harming his friend, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). The scene aired in TWD in late 2011 and began seeing usage in memes in 2023. The format is typically used to imply that the behavior of someone is poor or bad and that the meme's creator knows what kind of person they are, even if they do something subtle.

Origin

On November 20th, 2011, The Walking Dead season 2, episode 6, titled "Secrets," aired on TV. The line appears during a scene in which Dale Horvath confronts Shane Walsh and accuses him of being capable of harming Rick Grimes, Shane's former police partner and close friend, saying, "I know what kind of man you are." Shane then responds and challenges Dale, warning him to consider what he'd be capable of if he's already willing to harm those he cares about.

The clip from TWD was uploaded to YouTube^[1] by the channel MultiFandom Scene Studios on May 30th, 2021, receiving over 287,000 views, 5,700 likes and 660 comments in four years.

The earliest known usage of the scene in a meme comes from a February 20th, 2023, post by TikTok^[2] user @clashedpr, who posted the clip and distorted Shane's face to resemble a horse as the "I know what kind of man you are" line is played. The meme received over 2,200 likes and 30 comments in two years.

Spread

The meme continued to spread over the following months and years, typically being used in caption memes alongside the quote or used as an exploitable format.

For example, on October 30th, 2023, Instagram^[3] user @imbasedman posted a version of the meme using a caption about someone choosing the super power of freezing time, mind control and invisibility in a hypothetical question, garnering over 4,400 likes in two years.

On June 26th, 2024, an unknown Redditor uploaded a variant of the meme to the /r/memes^[4] subreddit criticizing people for not washing their hands after using the bathroom, receiving over 1,800 upvotes and 30 comments in a year.

On November 19th, 2024, Redditor Tunisandwich posted another version to /r/memes^[5] about a coworker taking a long bathroom break with their headphones, accumulating over 550 upvotes and 40 comments in seven months.

On April 29th, 2025, TikToker^[6] @adam18727 uploaded an exploitable version with an image of a pattern scratched into a desk, presumably made from a previously carved swastika-like symbol, receiving over 383,000 likes and 2,800 comments in two months.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References