I grew up after the war when patriotism was high, and so I grew up believing that British justice was the best in the world, and that the truth always conquered. After high profile miscarriages of justice like the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Five, I'm now inclined to believe that clever lawyers win their cases, but that the truth of those cases is a very hit and miss affair. I thought at the time that it probably wasn't true. I also remember an old china inkwell, which had written round the base, 'The pen is mightier than the sword'. I think the inkwell was perhaps more accurate.
Words can be very powerful.
They can be used for good, or they can be used as weapons, to injure and to maim, sometimes in hidden, manipulative ways. And words can be used very successfully to hide the truth and to hide from the truth. A clever speaker can persuade even an intelligent audience that wrong is right. And can so inflame the more vulnerable, that they can be manipulated to do anything they're told. Part of the success of the Hitlers of this world, is their ability as orators.