A “lie” is just one manifestation of the true evil, communication with the intent to manipulate the recipient of the information.

It has many forms. A bald-faced lie is just the extreme form of the dynamic. Editing the truth is another, such as saying that that ten studies have come to the conclusion of X, while omitting to mention that you also know of a thousand other reputable studies that came to the opposite conclusion, and twenty that questioned the methodology of the ten that came to conclusion X.

And then there is the taking on the robes of a false prophet, such as telling someone that something certainly shall come to pass when there is no way in Hell you have of guaranteeing or knowing that it will even though you say, or intimate, that you do.

And the motive behind it doesn’t really matter. Many people do evil things for noble and idealistic reasons. Its the mechanism. Its the means. Its the manipulation.

And when you start looking at other people as objects to manipulate, you have robbed them, and yourself, of the basic notion of humanity.