"If it makes no sense, there's someone mean behind it."
No idea about this case specifically, but in general this is an assumption that only hurts you in most cases. People have motives and people want to be good. If their "good" is your good is a different question - a question that is often worth figuring out.
“and people want to be good.”
I’d even push back on this a bit. Many people do not actually care about being good. A small but significant minority are psychopaths.
But more likely, too your last point, lots of people have a distorted sense of good, in that they can’t separate it from their own self-interest. What is good for them will be justified or reframed to be ’good,’ and this is often unconscious.
In instances like this, I find it pays to reserve a little energy toward being open minded and holding a 'trust but verify'. Specifically tho, trusting yourself and past lessons, but verifying, as opposed to trusting others.
People are complicated, and negative interactions do tend to have an outsized influence on molding our behavior
No idea about this case specifically, but in general this is an assumption that only hurts you in most cases. People have motives and people want to be good. If their "good" is your good is a different question - a question that is often worth figuring out.