I think "self-anointed do-gooder" captures the idea perfectly. Many of these folks want to help Africans and many low-income countries, but arguments on Hacker News and government decrees don't help the poor.

Only free trade, preferably between rich and poor countries, can lift the poor out of poverty. Initially, it starts in a way you might consider "unfair" but soon, that unskilled labor learns better skills and starts to negotiate better wages.

So, like I said, many of these "do-gooders" sincerely want to help Africans but their approach hurts even more.

It's complicated, because some of our best examples of recently successfully developing economies (Japan, Korea, China) actually had pretty heavy state intervention and tariffs to protect growing industries.

In addition, many of these virtue signalers are not donating their money or time to help with anything that they virtue signal on.

You see this in conservative virtue signaling so much, hardly any increase in adoption rates, not staying home if they're sick, etc

Not sure why the downvotes- colonialism is a direct result of thinking we know better than 'those people'

Self-righteousness is in no way unique to colonialism.

I think colonialism has more to do with the leadership of the colonial powers thinking the world is a giant cake to be carved up amongst each other: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IMGCDB82_-_Caricatura_sob...