What makes a person bad?

I think it is a continuum. Some people fall into bad actions due to socioeconomic pressure: they need money, they fall in with the wrong crowd. Some of them may be rehabilitated.

Those people may also continue to be bad, because it is all they know, or they get a twisted enjoyment out of power over others.

The opposite end of the spectrum is inhabited by only a few, relatively speaking. These are people who I think have some type of chemical imbalance or brain anomaly that means they are incapable of empathy. They literally perceive other people as mere adjuncts to themselves or as prey. This includes some borderline personality disorder sufferers and sociopaths.

Some ‘bad’ people are just people who make bad choices in life.
Some don’t have the mental capacity to tell wrong from right.
And some, well, just don’t give a fuck.

I think the general consensus is that if a person is actively going out of his way to fuck with people, then that person is bad.

I would like to think that no one is simply “born evil” I think its more the circumstances they are exposed to that cause them to do things most would consider “bad”. Looking at serial killers, most were exposed to abuse and hardship as children. I think many people learn their later behaviour in life from what they are exposed to as small children.

But then again, there are many people who have difficult childhoods who do not become criminals or killers, so maybe there is something in certain people’s make up that does make them pre-disposed to such behaviour.

As far as universal bad and universal good. I think there are certain things that most people would consider universally bad, like pedophilia, rape, murder, etc. (although that cant definitively be said considering some cultures have situations where some of these are acceptable behaviour) There are other actions which the level of “bad” would differ from individual to individual or from culture to culture, and even from situation to situation (like smoking weed, drinking alchohol, premarital sex, abortion and so on)

Mostly dirt. Also, a feeling of uncleanness. If you like, you can go to Baden Baden to take the waters. The sulphur baths will clean you right up.

There are those that say that “good” and “bad” are objective states. For example, stealing is wrong and should be punished.

Then there are those who believe it’s a little more subjective. Sure, stealing is bad in general, but what about the poor person stealing to feed his kids because they don’t have the money to buy food? Does stealing count for worse than saving your kids counts as good?

I lean to the subjective side. Bad oftentimes depends on the individual situation. Where subjectivism starts to fall apart is in the face of True Evil™, because you pretty much have to agree that Hitler was objectively Bad, even if he thought he was doing a good thing for Germany. At the extremes, subjective morality, just like physics, tends to fall apart. On the other hand, by definition, most situations are not extreme.

Bad intent.

I agree with a lot of answers and I especially like Marina’s answer. I truly believe everyone has a choice to do “good” or “bad” in this world, regardless of situation, predicament, socioeconomic position, upbringing, crisis or whatever. Do we rise above our baser selves or do we succumb to our own selfish desires? I think that’s what defines bad, in my opinion.

That depend at the pressure of environment.If the person is bad or not.Another thing is gelasmusss.The character like is gelasmuss can led in to the bad doings of that one who has that character but only after some years without any change of that person.

Nothing “makes” a person bad.

About 2% of the population have a neurological impairment that renders them incapable of “mirroring” the internal states of others. In other words, they have no empathy and a truncated range of emotions (which are basically power-oriented and reflect various states of the frustration of the will, anger, resentment, hostilty, etc.), so they have no natural moral compass. They know the difference between right and wrong, but it is a purely intellectual understanding that has no emotional meaning for them, so they can’t and don’t really “care” about things other people fret over as right and wrong. Consequently, they have no conscience and will put their needs and wants ahead of the rights of others. We call such people sociopaths or psychopaths.

They are simply tone deaf to the human condition but are not necessarily evil or dangerous. A acquaintance of mine who was an FBI profiler says you would be surprised at how many televangelists are psychopaths. If they are brutalized and humiliated in such a way that they become ostracized from society, they can become demoralized; which is to say, they no longer subscribe to conventional mores. Instead they become opportunistic, and they pursue their own agenda often at the expense of everyone who gets in their way. The more impulsive members of this group tend to get caught fairly quickly, labeled, and sent to prison; where they tend to get further brutalized and more or less cement their predatory disregard for others, whom they victimize.

Lonnie Athens in his book, “The Creation of Dangerous Violent Criminals” describes a sequential process of brutalization, subjugation, horrification, violent coaching, belligerency, violent performances, and virulency, which produces a person who is quick to extreme violence at the slightest hint of disrespect. It looks to me that this process could literally beat the conscience out of anyone, but probably goes very quickly with someone who has psychopathic tendencies. People who go to prison and who are subject to violence there, tend to get moved along the sequence. Once the sequence is complete, it is very, very difficult to undo.

Some psychopaths, like the fictional HBO character Dexter (who carries the trauma of seeing his mother murdered with a chain saw at age 2), find ways of dealing with their dark impulses without getting caught by following a formula or code. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, in his book “On Killing” says that about 2% of the people in the military are full-on natural born psychopaths, and they are the only ones who have absolutely no qualms about killing. (The other 98% have a great moral resistance to killing and tend to fire their weapons in the air instead of the enemy, even when under heavy attack. If they are forced to kill anyway, as many were in Vietnam, they tend to quickly fall victim to PTSD.) The killers tend to find their way into Special Forces and commando units. Others become prison guards or Southern sheriffs, where they can indulge in cruelty and violence with impunity.

So, yes, there are definite in-born propensities to be have in ways that violate our mores and taboos and so be considered “evil” or “bad.” But there are also processes that can probably bring these out in anyone.

Why can’t we all be good? We were not born to be bad. We all have the potential to be good so why not be good. Why must we hurt others? It’s a matter of choice. We’re responsible for our actions no? My heart is sad for those who hurt others. They must be truly suffering inside. We must forgive and pray for them because their pain is our pain.

I don’t like to refer to humans as bad because we were not born to be bad. We were born to be good. We all should be good. We were all created with all the right ammunitions to handle any and all of our conditions. Some of us simply don’t know how to use our tools. Such inability may make the human not so cool. Soon, he’ll become angry, desperate and sad while blaming everyone. In order to alleviate the pain, he may find a few scapegoats, usually family members, friends or acquaintances. He will start treating others poorly. That’s his way of dealing with his own pain—taking it out on others. Such humans tend to treat those who help them badly because they feel ashamed and unworthy. As the pain lingers, they may become hard and devoid of compassion. Their emotional and spiritual wheels may take a detour, living them helpless, alone and confused. We must always forgive them and pray laboriously for them even if they hurt us. Not everyone becomes mean due to their inability to handle their circumstances. Au contraire, some humans becomes kinder, gentler and more compassionate due to their overwhelming odds. We all handle our conditions differently.