There's More to Being Bad

Trying to come to any conclusion of what makes humans bad has been a bit difficult. It was interesting to look at different studies that could potentially help me find an answer to this question. Looking through it through the humanities taught me that knowledge comes from many places and many different perspectives. Through the social sciences I was forced to think critically and base findings on quantitative research. Lastly, through the natural "hard" sciences I was able to see that neurological conditions could be the cause of bad behavior. The humanities and social sciences were most interesting to me because looking at life and your surroundings, there are so many different things that can shape a human being. These all result in our actions and behaviors which are then classified by society as good or bad.

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During the knowledge fair Cynthia Martinez presented to the class with the article "No One is Born a Serial Killer!" by Illie Magdalena Iona. During the presentation and by some further reading of the article, I learned that it is not the psychological causes that makes a human a serial killer, but the "emotional, motivational...biological factors...factors related to education, socialization, culture, and, especially, the social-economic environment the individual lives in" (Ioana, 2013). These findings tell us that those who are serial killers have had traumatic events that have left them scarred and anti-social. Yet, they have become the greatest of actors for their skill of seeming normal and their skill of fitting in is what helps them be who they really are, serial killers.

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For in the study "The Monster Within: How Male Serial Killers Discursively Manage Their Stigmatized Identities" we learned that serial killers were able to manage their identities by "representing a normal self to others, acknowledging barriers to normalcy, and explaining their actions as justifiable (vigilante justice)" (Henson, Olson, 2010, 352).

The third factor here is what I find most interesting. It is like the case of Dexter which I am bringing up once again. He was a serial killer as we already discussed but he was also a sort of vigilante. In a sense, his killings were in fact for the better of society. He had a code which he followed and for the most part, he followed it. The only time we saw Dexter kill just to kill, was to keep his cover. Other than that, he always made sure that the person he was going to kill, deserved to die.

Therefore, my mere true belief about human just being humans might just be too simple. For there are so many aspects of life that contribute to our behavior which ultimately determines if we are good or bad.