If You’re a Good Person, You’re Probably Very Close to a Bad One

The Washington Post headline caught my eye moments after logging into my computer, with the intent of finishing my 2025 taxes:

“US was only country in a worldwide survey to say most fellow citizens are bad people.”

I assumed the “Americans are bad people” stemmed from us growing weary of CERTAIN types of people. Politicians for instance.

But upon devouring the Pew Research study that provided the basis for the Post article, it became clear that Americans — 53% of us specifically — view ALL our compatriots as morally or ethically bad.

The Pew Research Study: Are We Morally Corrupt?

I pondered this statistic as I sat in church days later, waiting for services to begin. Looking around at the rapidly filling pews, I did some simple calculations. By Pew’s estimates, over half of my fellow parishioners were looking at their neighbors and concluding they were bad people. The elderly female usher in the flowered dress greeting church members? Don’t let that smile fool you. She’s bad.

Ditto for the two gentlemen passing the collection plate. Also the choir conductor. Heck, I’m starting to view my pastor warily now.  Maybe I should ask her after her sermon if she’s ethically corrupt.

Or perhaps I should simply move to Canada, the country that came out on top in the “good vs. bad” survey. Specifically, 92% of survey participants in that country feel their fellow Canadians are good versus only 47% of Americans who feel the same.

Canada, please continue resisting our president’s desire to annex your country. It could damage the way you view your friends, neighbors and fellow hockey fans.

Attempting to make sense of our mass dislike for one another, Pew researchers pointed to politics — specifically party affiliation — as the primary culprit. Democrats and left leaning independents were 14% more likely to stick the “bad” label on others. However, the survey concludes, those numbers are rising for both Democrats AND Republicans.  

Everybody viewed War Secretary Pete Hegseth as morally and ethically bad. OK, that’s not true but he’s tops on my list.

Bad vs. Annoying: Deciding Whether Americans Are Bad People

Personally, I think calling people bad is a stretch, as we all have some good in us. “Annoying” is more appropriate. Indeed, I’d venture that most Pew participants were thinking of annoying people when taking the survey. I don’t feel I meet morally and ethically bad people on a daily basis. But people in my condo who push the already lit “Up” button? Annoying. The telephone customer service representative who asks me for my 16-digit credit card number after I had already entered it on my iPhone? Annoying. The airline passenger in front of me who reclines his seat immediately after I have been served a cup of coffee? Not only annoying but in danger of feeling a foot in his back just as he attempts to doze off.

Mind you, we feel some behaviors are more morally and ethically acceptable than other countries. Only 23% of Americans find marijuana use morally wrong compared with 91% and 70% of survey participants in Indonesia and Japan respectively. We’re also much more accepting of gambling than others throughout the world.  

But put all these behaviors together and, as Pew reminds us, we come out number one in judging others for their alleged immoral and unethical ways. I don’t expect these numbers to decrease anytime soon. Not in a country where elections are labeled “rigged” and vaccines are nothing more than moneymaking scams cooked up by corrupt drug organizations. I don’t feel either is true, but does that make me an ethically good person? I hope so. I also have surrounded myself with friends who share my belief. What else can I do except soldier on and do what is expected of me? Like getting my taxes to my accountant in a timely manner.

But if he tells me I owe ANYTHING this year, he will immediately become a bad person.