Who determines “good” and “bad”? When we say that a meal, a movie, or a date was good, it usually means that it was tasty, enjoyable, or a success. It was a positive experience. Yet to a different person -or even the same person at a different time- the food, movie, or date is considered bad. Maybe they prefer another type of cuisine, a different movie genre, or a specific sense of humor.
What we say is “good” is based on our own experiences. Since we’re all unique individuals, “good” can easily be someone else’s “bad”. As a society there are things we’ve generally accepted as “good” -like pizza and respect- or “bad” -like cilantro and stealing. Yet these definitions can easily change depending on where we live in the world.
There just isn’t a definitive way to say if something is truly “good” or “bad”. We either trust our judgment or agree with the opinion of the majority. But what happens when we interact with other people? We only have our own judgments to rely on during social encounters. So if we judge someone and their actions as “bad”, what are we trying to achieve? How does criticizing them benefit us?