This month, I want to address an issue that has puzzled me for many years: Why do people - why does everyone - occasionally do bad things? This is not a new question, of course. It has been asked throughout history, and there are plenty of accounts in ancient documents of ‘bad’ behaviour (for example - ‘causing’ 42 children to be eaten by bears after being called a ‘baldy’ - check out 2 Kings 2:23-24 in the Bible).
‘Bad’ is bit of a vague concept based on societal norms - ranging from burping at the table (seen by some as signalling appreciation of a good meal, and therefore not ‘bad’ at all), to murder (very bad), with a spectrum of actions at every shade of badness in between. The severity of exhortations against ‘badness’ range from a general agreement in society about what is right and wrong (‘mores’), to local rules and bylaws and thence to national and international laws.
Additionally, what was formerly not bad can become bad (smoking in a plane, wolf-whistling at someone in the street), but very rarely can something that was considered bad become good (although my wife suggests ‘having a fat bottom’). I’m not including instances when we do something ‘bad’ inadvertently, such as creeping slightly over the speed limit on a downhill road. (“Honestly, officer!”)
Anyway, why do we decide to do these things, knowing that they are somewhere on the ‘bad’ spectrum? I have a few ideas, more or less in order of seriousness:
1. We don’t think that the action in question is bad (although others might). For example, I was recently walking near my house on a well-frequented local woodland path in the mid-afternoon when I passed a lady in her sixties wearing stylish bright blue trousers with a pattern of large white flowers on them, who was walking her small dog. As I passed her I said “I like your trousers.” She said, “That is so inappropriate.” I said “I thought I was being kind.” She said “You people are so bloody-minded. Just walk on and bugger off.” I stood there, open mouthed, shaking my head. She then called me a very rude name and walked off, back the way we had both come, leaving me astonished at what had just been said to me. I’m still scratching my head about that one;
2. We think that the rules don’t apply to us. Perhaps you just misunderstood the mores/rules/laws, or didn’t have the information, or didn’t take the time to understand them - but you honestly think that a different set of rules applies to you for this particular behaviour or in this circumstance;
3. We know that the rules apply to us, but we ignore them all the same, for one or more of the following reasons:
- Sense of superiority or of entitlement (think Boris Johnson attending parties in No. 10 Downing Street, while the rest of the country was in the Covid lockdown regime that he instituted);
- We think that what we are doing is actually good, or for a good or ‘higher’ cause;
- Payback (‘I did a good thing, so now I get to do a bad thing’);
- We want to show o¬ that we can break the rules;
- We think that we can break the rules and get away with it;
4. We think by breaking the norms, rules or laws that the negative consequences are so minor (for ourselves or others) that we are okay to break them;
5. We have made a calculation that the negative consequences (which may be significant for ourselves and/or others) are outweighed by the positive consequences for ourselves (or our families or companies or political parties, etc);
6. We just haven’t thought things through, and, having decided on a course of action, we plough on blindly, ignoring the consequences;
7. You are mentally ill, or a temporary disturbance (passion, anger, fear) disrupts your reasoning powers and/or self-control;
8. You feel obliged to do bad things or act outside of the law by your upbringing or background - for example as a ‘career criminal’ or as a member of a gang;
9. You are a psychopath - and can’t tell right from wrong;
10. You are genuinely bad (or evil, if you believe in that supernatural concept).
I think that if you reel through all of the instances of badness that you can think of, you should be able to ascribe the reasons (or excuses) behind that misbehaviour to one or more of these factors. For instance, giving someone a compliment (!), gossiping, greediness, drunkenness, speeding, littering, telling lies, stealing, fraud, burglary, creating pollution, violence, murder, war, genocide or crimes against humanity. We may disagree about what constitutes ‘bad’ behaviour, and which ‘reason’ is behind it, but it’s a start.
I’ll be glad of any feedback - thanks!
