Perceived irrationality of infidels justified coercing them like children or animals.

Evidence

Increasingly, as Muslims proved as impervious to “rational” polemics as Jews, the two groups were lumped together as stubborn and irrational infidels. Missionaries such as William of Rubruck and Riccoldo da Montecroce painted the Oriental, Muslim or not, as a foreign, lethargic being unfit for rational argumentation. Because of this irrationality, it was entirely appropriate to use coercion and force with these infidels: to treat them forcefully, as one would treat children or animals, compelling them to submit to Catholic authority, to listen quietly to missionary sermons, and so on. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1363

Categorization

• XREF: The infantilization-and-coercion logic instantly echoes colonial justifications for subjugating non-Europeans — a through-line from medieval mission to modern empire.
• DEEPTHINKING: A dense causal claim: perceived irrationality licenses brutal treatment; the delegitimizing stereotype is the precondition of force. Reversable to a modern question about how we license coercion of those we deem unreasonable.