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I'm now realizing that alignment in D&D is one of those gameable compromises which steps on toes.
Lumping together "this sentient consistently has no problem harming others for their own gain," "this sentient will defend and believes wholeheartedly in cultural ideals, but which create incredible harm" and "this unworldly creature is literally a personification of wilful harm" is an ethical equivalent to AC, potentially a profoundly useful game widget.
But when a lot of people in the game have been labeled evil, come from a family history of being the official evil people, or the evildoers conveniently line up with old prejudiced stereotypes, then there's a lot less utility to it.
