Rhetoric is being compared to boxing or wrestling in this situation because both are skills that require a lot of responsibility. “Just because one has learned boxing or wrestling or fighting in armor so well as to vanquish friend and foe alike: this gives one no right to strike one's friend, or stab them to death” (Gorgias 67.) The same can be said for those skilled at the art of rhetoric: just because you are skilled and have the ability to manipulate people into believing what you believe, doesn’t mean you should. Also, if you are skilled at wrestling or boxing does not mean you should go around picking fights with people because you will obviously win. This is the point that Plato is trying to make. Gorgias also points out the fact that it is not the teacher’s fault, or the fault of the skill, if someone uses their skill for evil; it is the person’s fault. “So it is not the teachers who are wicked, nor is the art either guilty or wicked on this account, but rather, to my thinking, those who do not use it properly” (Gorgias 67.) The same can be said for rhetoric, of course there are people that are going to use the power for evil. That doesn’t make rhetoric
Rhetoric is being compared to boxing or wrestling in this situation because both are skills that require a lot of responsibility. “Just because one has learned boxing or wrestling or fighting in armor so well as to vanquish friend and foe alike: this gives one no right to strike one's friend, or stab them to death” (Gorgias 67.) The same can be said for those skilled at the art of rhetoric: just because you are skilled and have the ability to manipulate people into believing what you believe, doesn’t mean you should. Also, if you are skilled at wrestling or boxing does not mean you should go around picking fights with people because you will obviously win. This is the point that Plato is trying to make. Gorgias also points out the fact that it is not the teacher’s fault, or the fault of the skill, if someone uses their skill for evil; it is the person’s fault. “So it is not the teachers who are wicked, nor is the art either guilty or wicked on this account, but rather, to my thinking, those who do not use it properly” (Gorgias 67.) The same can be said for rhetoric, of course there are people that are going to use the power for evil. That doesn’t make rhetoric