XIX century England fought the Opium War against China in the name of free trade and human freedom. The information was freely available then.
There was nothing "free market" about the slave trade since the commodities were stolen to begin with.
Not true, in most of history the large part of slaves was legally acquired, some became slaves because of debts (in free market Rome or Greece), others were enslaved as a result of war (their life was spared in exchange), others were born as slaves.
What is your alternative to "rationality", math and logic?
I am not against math used properly, but building intricate/complex math models in economics or psychology is a pretentious and silly imitation of physics. But I am all for logic, which unfortunately is missing here.
"focusing on the small insights...rather than the broad theories that explain how the overall system works."
That sounds like how the public schools teach everything.
Free trade does not come at the point of a bayonet or from the muzzles of cannons. The monopolies which forced China to allow opium have nothing to do with free trade.
Slaves were not slaves as the result of their free choice.
Logic is clearly missing from your posts allegedly about economics.