A lie quietly believed is insidious. It will seldom see the light. It doesn’t run off of the more obvious and salacious wildfire fuel of rumor. It implies it has a more noble source. It is softly held as to not upset other folk but held nonetheless- and so the lie has done its damage, the work it was meant to do. Dislodging the lie seems more work on the holder of the lie since it doesn’t entirely matter in the grand scheme of things, even though conclusions have already been hazyly drawn as a result of the lie. This is not Wormtongue 101, it is advanced deception. I wonder if it started shortly after leaving the Garden. And freewill opens up that tech tree to us all.