They Might Be Giants | Equivalent eXchange

A woman came up to me and said
“I’d like to poison your mind
With wrong ideas that appeal to you
Though I am not unkind”
She looked at me, I looked at something
Written across her scalp
And these are the words that it faintly said
As I tried to call for help…

— From Whistling in the Dark, by They Might Be Giants

The Cynic
The Realist
The Optimist
The Apathetic

Further Reading:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourPhilosophyEnsemble

The Utopian vs. the Dystopian

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_(They_Might_Be_Giants_album)

https://genius.com/They-might-be-giants-whistling-in-the-dark-lyrics

Notes:

Since these pair up nicely (Realism and Apathy, Optimism and Cynicism), perhaps one could combine them as Optimistic Realism, Optimistic Apathy, Cynical Realism, Cynical Apathy.

Particle man, particle man
Doing the things a particle can
What’s he like? It’s not important
Particle man

— From “Particle Man”, by They Might Be Giants

…nothing is missing from your understanding of “Particle Man”…

— John Linnell of They Might Be Giants

In the song “Particle Man”, four “men” that are maybe super heroes are discussed:

Particle Man: even if something was known about this entity, except for being minute, it would seem to be of no consequence
Person Man: whether this individual just has low self esteem or actually deserves their belittled state is indeterminate
Triangle Man: hates Particle Man and Person Man for some reason, and bests each one individually in fights; a bully perhaps
Universe Man: might be identified with the whole of space-time itself and so may be too large or important for petty conflicts