Persuasion could influence or even destroy others beliefs systems. Can
you draw the line where changing others belief systems in any way
becomes destroying their belief systems in any way? [If X persuades to
degree A or form B, destruction results.]
Persuasion is a form of influence. It is the process of guiding people
toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and
symbolic (though not always logical) means. It is strategy of problem-
solving relying on "appeals" rather than force.
Manipulation is taking persuasion to an extreme, where the one party
benefits at the other's cost.
Aristotle said that "Rhetoric is the art of discovering, in a
particular case, the available means of persuasion."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion
