Believing in Western exploitation can itself legitimize totalitarian maltreatment of citizens

Evidence

Allegations of exploitation were not only untrue, but positively harmful to the Third World, he argued, as they diverted attention from the personal and social causes of material progress and encouraged the view that incomes were extracted rather than earned. In his own version of Hayek’s famous ‘road to serfdom’, Bauer argued that any concession to a belief in Western exploitation of former colonies legitimised severe maltreatment, including expropriation and massacre. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 432

Categorization

• XREF: A causal explanation-of-ideas claim: a belief (exploitation narrative) produces political consequences (totalitarianism). Connects to reader’s interest in how discourse shapes human rights outcomes. — connects to: People rationalize oppressive arrangements that harm them rather than protect their own interests — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2911; Believing absurdities enables ordinary decent people to commit atrocities; People disengage moral self-sanctions through euphemism, justification, and dehumanization — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2096

Broader Connections

• Believing absurdities enables ordinary decent people to commit atrocities #expands (0.75)
• People rationalize oppressive arrangements that harm them rather than protect their own interests #corroborates (0.72) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2911
• People disengage moral self-sanctions through euphemism, justification, and dehumanization #expands (0.72) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2096