Forced commerce was rhetorically framed as spreading universal rights

Evidence

Trade, even when forced upon a country by gunboats, was a vehicle for spreading the word of the gospels and promoting universal brotherhood. ‘Those who denied their people access to truth, and to the manufactures of the West’, in contrast, ‘were infringing on an inherent human right’. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 134

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Strongly complements the ‘Grafting & Growth’ and sacrifice themes — the gunship-commercial-human-rights triad shows how abstract rights talk legitimated empire.
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberal human rights discourse entailed a duty to spread capitalism globally — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 283; Liberal human rights discourse actually licensed powerful states’ interventions for their corporations — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 287; Neoliberals weaponized human rights language to protect private property and market order — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 76

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal human rights discourse entailed a duty to spread capitalism globally #corroborates (0.85) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 283
• Liberal human rights discourse actually licensed powerful states’ interventions for their corporations #corroborates (0.82) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 287
• Neoliberals weaponized human rights language to protect private property and market order #expands (0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 76