Do 'bad' people really exist?

United Kingdom
August 19, 2013 11:45am CST
I know that I will get a mixed reception from anyone that reads this but I'm writing about my own thoughts and it's a free county (or a free internet-world). I often question myself about what makes a 'bad person'. I'm sure that at all points in our lives, we think that we are 'bad people' for something that we have said or done but of course, not everyone that says this is bad. So what is a bad person? If someone does a bad thing, that cannot make them a bad person. They may have done it without realising it would have particular consequences or may not have considered that it may affect others. Or they may have done something bad and then regretted it, spending the rest of their life trying to make up for it. Therefore, it is safe to say that it is only when people do a lot of bad things can be classed as 'bad people'. However, I'm not certain that I agree. I think when we hear about murderers etc., we often presume things about them and label them as 'evil'. We cannot physically understand what would drive someone to do this and therefore, we judge. Firstly, we do not know the situation behind what happened the majority of the time. I personally do not believe everything in the press, nor do I listen to rumours. How do we know that if a wife kills her husband for 'no reason' that it wasn't an act of self-defense? Perhaps he was attacking her and in her defense, she accidentally killed him? She may declare this in court but not everyone would believe her. This does not make her a bad person. Also, there are pre-meditated attacks. At some point, we all feel and express anger and we snap- to some, this is simply losing their temper and shouting; to others: hitting someone but in some people's cases, they snap and this can result in murder. In some ways, this can be considered a result of their anger and as much as I don't condone or understand it, it doesn't mean the person involved bad. They have issues- serious ones. They could have psychological illnesses and if they do, can they be considered responsible for their actions? Can they be ill and bad? We should also understand that we do not know people's background. If a person became a mass-murderer and tortured people before eventually killing them, why would they do this? We may call them a 'psycho' or 'sick' but why would they do it? Is it a response from how they were treated by their parents or by other children when they were younger? I don't know exact statistics but I do know that the majority of people in prison have been abused in some way or another. This is not an excuse, as many people are abused and do not become murderers or rapists etc. but they have not been taught how to act with others and only have known pain and fear. Overall, people can commit these crimes for many reasons but we don't think about this. I tried thinking to myself once that some people must commit crimes without any reason for self-defence; with no diagnosed mental disorders and when they have never been abused so why do they do it? Are they the ones that we can call 'bad' or 'evil'? If someone does not care how someone else is feeling and can resort to torture without feeling guilt, regret or remorse, then they are ill in my opinion. No one is simply able to deal with doing something like that without having issues. Therefore, I believe that there are no 'evil' people. I think that people do bad things and are often categorised as 'bad people' for this. People will disagree and they are entitled to but for me, there are no bad people, only bad actions.
4 responses
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
21 Aug 13
I don't believe that a person who does one bad thing is automatically a bad person. Depends on what they did, why they did it, whether they even realise it's wrong, etc. This reminds me of a disagreement I had with a former friend about certain co-workers. He didn't like something they did, therefore they were evil, and I shouldn't mention them to him. They were flawed human beings just like everybody else. There was this episode of CSI that made an impression on me. It was about a female serial killer who had had some awful things happen to her in childhood. She had ended up in a foster home, and the foster mother had said something like, "when I get a child, I can usually tell if they are merely damaged or if they're broken". The person in question was broken. Some people recover from their awful experiences, and others become the evil. I do believe that a person can be so anti-social and immoral that they are bad. But I also believe that most people can choose to change. Not all. I think there is a point of no return.
1 person likes this
@Redisis (51)
• Henderson, Tennessee
21 Aug 13
Bad people do exist!! No matter how hard people try there are bad and good. I have seen bad people do good and good people do bad. But most of all the Evil people are the ones who do not care kill just to kill and hurt others. I personally think we should go back to the old ways If you rape, murder or any of the sick and twisted ways they should be NOT be put into Prisons They should be Executed publicly either by hanging or a firing squad. This is why People in our country gets away with horrifying acts because We do not make an example of them in Public. The Prisons are overcrowded by the ones who should be Executed. Honestly be need to go back to the old ways and either behead them or Hang them. This is my opinion
@narsha (466)
20 Aug 13
You've written a lot!
@honor00 (185)
20 Aug 13
I agee with you, to survive we make judgements eg 'safe' vs 'not safe' but our judgements are generalisations and depend on actions. We train and socialise our children so they well know what we define as 'bad', but EVIL is not 'bad'. Evil usually has no intent eg the Weats or that doctor. The word evil is used by tabloids as shorthand. Many behaviours are drieven by voices or a reaction to a perceived threat.