The answer to this philosophical question of yours can have diverse answers in the form of diverse opinions.
If you ask me, I would say, generally there are two kind of people. One, who have a different meaning of good and bad than the meaning that society holds. Two, people who do bad things just for the sake of it as it is the “trend” these days. Let’s deal with both types of people one by one.
You must have heard the word “rebel” which is associated with practices like breaking conventions, doing things which are not meant to be done, and taking “the road not taken”. Rebels are the ones whose principles are quite different from that of the society and who like to do stuff their way.
For example, not touching the feet of your elders whenever you meet them can be termed as “bad” by the standards of your parents, but the newer generation maintains that respect comes from heart and not from the gestures, and the same practice is not “bad” for them.
Another example is that of the question of God and religion. Sacrificing cows and goats is “adharma” (unrighteous or in your language, “bad”) from the point of view of Hinduism. Still, Islam legitimizes it as a religious and sacred practice. Muslims have a festival dedicated to the practice.
This takes us to the conclusion that good and bad are two words the meanings of which keep shifting. On this principle of shifting meanings is based superstition which prohibits you to do certain things, not because they are bad, but because the societal standards don’t approve them.
Now let’s come to the second type, which are contrary to the first. Yes, while the first category is that of “rebels”, the second is of those who are better known as “trend-followers”.
You must have found many people glorifying devil and all the “bad” stuff associated with the concept of devil. There are some people who are fascinated by such trend and hence acquire the persona of “bad boy” or “bad girl”. Smoking, consuming alcohol, hippy hairdos, tattoos, substance abuse, are some of the major practices that are “cool” because they are “bad”. It’s negatively positive or positively negative, I don’t know.
Apart from these two much generalized and almost stereotyped categories, people acquire the rough, tough and bad attitude towards the world sometimes because of their bitter life experiences. They start keeping the attitude of “***** for tat”, which slowly makes them essentially bad.
