Editing Rhetoric (section)

===As a political tool===
Political parties employ "manipulative rhetoric" to advance their party-line goals and lobbyist agendas. They use it to portray themselves as champions of compassion, freedom, and culture, all while implementing policies that appear to contradict these claims. It serves as a form of political propaganda, presented to sway and maintain public opinion in their favor, and garner a positive image, potentially at the expense of suppressing dissent or criticism. An example of this is the government's actions in freezing bank accounts and regulating internet speech, ostensibly to protect the vulnerable and preserve freedom of expression, despite contradicting values and rights.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Netzer |first=Olek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ch4SEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |title=Person-Centered Political Party: A Blueprint for Organization Free of Power Corruption |date=2021-06-14 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-91296-1 |pages=13+ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cheminant |first1=Wayne Le |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sCjGBQAAQBAJ |title=Manipulating Democracy: Democratic Theory, Political Psychology, and Mass Media |last2=Parrish |first2=John M. |date=2010-09-22 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-99445-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Saussure |first1=Louis de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uj7zi4p664C&pg=PA213 |title=Manipulation and Ideologies in the Twentieth Century: Discourse, Language, Mind |last2=Schulz |first2=Peter |date=2005-01-01 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=978-90-272-2707-2 |pages=213+ |language=en}}</ref>

Going back to the fifth century BCE, the term rhetoric originated in Ancient Greece. During this period, a new government (democracy) had been formed and as speech was the main method of information, an effective communication strategy was needed. Sophists, a group of intellectuals from Sicily, taught the ancient Greeks the art of persuasive speech in order to be able to navigate themselves in the court and senate.<ref name=":2" /> This new technique was then used as an effective method of speech in political speeches and throughout government. Consequently people began to fear that persuasive speech would overpower truth. However, Aristotle argued that speech can be used to classify, study, and interpret speeches and as a useful skill. Aristotle believed that this technique was an art, and that persuasive speech could have truth and logic embedded within it. In the end, rhetoric speech still remained popular and was used by many scholars and philosophers.<ref name=":2">Lundberg, C. O., & Keith, W. M. (2018). The essential guide to rhetoric. Bedford/St. Martin's.
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