Platform mission statements echo colonial law’s benevolent attitude toward the subjugated

Evidence

The mission statements of social quantification companies do not mention anything about extermination of natives, but like Spanish law, they adopt a very generous and helpful attitude toward those whom they seek to subjugate. They purport to “bring the world closer together” (Facebook) and to “enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential” (Microsoft). They also aim to “give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers” (Twitter). Google has policies that promote values of transparency, user choice, and responsibility—including a “responsible manufacturing” policy and even a “conflict minerals” policy,” both of which regulate the sourcing of manufacturing materials from war-free locations. Amazon wants to be a place where “customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online,” and Airbnb imagines a “magical world” in which “everyone of us can belong anywhere” and we “can be anything we want.” Intuit, which sells financial software to individuals, declares that they want to change their users’ lives “so profoundly, they couldn’t imagine going back to the old way.” — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 338

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: a close reading of big-tech mission statements against colonial legal texts - showing how ‘we’re helping you join our world’ recurs from the Laws of the Indies to ‘bring the world closer together.’
• XREF: Directly extends the Spanish law paragraph [337]; juxtaposing them is the load-bearing argument of this chapter’s rhetorical move. — connects to: Colonial officials justified coercion as a legitimate corollary of the civilizing mission; Colonial conquest is redeemed in the conqueror’s mind by ideology; Bantu Philosophy challenged the colonial paternalism underpinning mission methods (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Colonial rule frames subject peoples as wards needing Western paternal judgment #exemplifies (0.87) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 120
• Colonial officials justified coercion as a legitimate corollary of the civilizing mission #exemplifies (0.86)
• Egyptian colonial rhetoric replicated British civilizing-mission justifications #exemplifies (0.85)
• Colonial conquest is redeemed in the conqueror’s mind by ideology #corroborates (0.82)
• Colonial sovereignty manufactures its own morality through self-declaration, bypassing the is-ought gap #expands (0.82) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 392
• Bantu Philosophy challenged the colonial paternalism underpinning mission methods #contradicts (0.80)
• Instrumental rule undercut imperialists’ sincere belief in their protective mission #complicates (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 547
• Colonial rule is justified as a benefit to the colonized and the West #exemplifies (0.80) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 110
• Modernization narratives in legal history erase colonial coercion by crediting natives’ desire #complicates (0.80) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 210
• Colonial discourse distinguishes legal equality from factual inequality to justify hierarchy #expands (0.78) — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 236
• Colonial discourse lets the colonizer speak for the colonized while silencing them #expands (0.76) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 114
• Colonial reformers’ ethical indignation coexisted with colonial privilege #corroborates (0.75)