The same liberal rhetoric served both anti-racist and racist colonial ends

Evidence

During the Great Wahhabi Case, this strand of liberalism unsettled racial boundaries by underlining that the suspension of habeas corpus presented a potential threat to both Indian and British subjects. In other situations, however, Anglo-Indian newspapers used much the same rhetoric to criticize government attempts to expand the legal rights of Indians at the expense of Anglo-Indian privilege. — Julia Stephens, The Phantom Wahhabi, 156

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The idea that rhetoric’s power lies in its ideological incoherence cuts against the assumption that political language carries fixed commitments.