Do you think that we encounter 'bad' people in our lives?

I think people may be bad for us for whatever reason – they’re opportunists, they’re addicts, they’re users, whatever, a variety of reasons. If you can realize that and keep a distance, it will help you in the long run.

As far as your statement about trying to figure out how they “behave, lie, cheat, deceive and judge endlessly and still think they’re better than most” you can try to figure them out until the cows come home and still be wrong. Let it go, don’t try to analyze them, and move on. LIfe is too short to try to figure people out. If they’re bad for you, for whatever reason, realizing that is enough for you to cut the ties and move on.

I have the same mindset too. I want to make friends with everyone, but there can be time when people show their darker side and upset me. After a while when I can no longer stand it, I have to let them go. It’s heart-breaking, sure, but that’s better than having to suffer from being abused.

Yeah bad people do exist. But many don’t realize they are bad. And you don’t have to cling onto a relationship with bad people. It’s sad to end a relationship but sometimes you have no choice.

Of course we do, shitty people are out there, sense it early & deal with it accordingly.
I like to call it Close Encounters of the Turd Kind :D

Since you cannot identify the character of an individual, presume that they are “good” and act accordingly. No one is all “good” or “bad”. Often their “goodness” can be elicited by our behavior toward them. Should self-serving interests become apparent, however, the relationship is toxic and should be limited if not ended.

Sadly bad people do exist and wearing rose colored glasses in an attempt to redefine a$$holes who you encounter to then fit into your definition of a perfect world does nobody any good especially yourself. Bad people need to be reminded they are bad and treated accordingly.

I have experienced people in my life that I know for a fact are bad.

Human beings are not gods, and even if we were would still not be capable of perfection. There will be any variety of imperfection, and that is nobody’s fault, it is simply how the math, and natural patterns play out. There are degrees of imperfect which go from “Factory seconds” to “Burn pile”. If you play out the math to the nth, you might find enough imperfect humans have lived to balance for one, unflawed, unbelievable primate. Maybe that was what the prediction of a savior came from, trying to imagine the math involved to find the wait it would require to experience just one human with no flaws. ( I hope we didn’t have one on the way, and it ended up at an abortion clinic.)
So, looking at inevitability, yes, there are bad people, always will be bad people, and there is very little we can do to change that.

I have seen and known psychopaths. Yes, they are bad.

People are not intrinsically bad or evil, they are disturbed, suffer from psychopathology, personality disorders, etc. Yes, there are unsavory type to be recognized and avoided but it is the behavior that is bad, not the actual person. Personally my biggest hatreds are manipulative and passive aggressive types. Once I recognize these traits in someone I swiftly eliminate them from my life. Manipulation is the cornerstone of most disturbed people and they can never be trusted to be honest.

I think people are not born to be bad. Certain things may happen which serves as the turning point. Some bad people may actually be extremely nice and sweet in the past.