"Given the ongoing suspicion of persuasion, it may be time to rethink the paradigm that has underlain persuasion for the past couple of millennia."
Peitho (the personification of persuasion) brings Eros to Aphrodite; Pompeiian fresco, c25 BCE. Courtesy Wikimedia
"What if persuasion were approached not as an action done by a rhetor to an audience but in terms of the audience’s needs?" - Sam Dresser
Article: Can Political Persuasion be Something More Than Manipulation?