There’s a serious danger in people being told that only authoritarian brutality will save us...
The fact is, China’s authoritarianism - specifically, early censorship of #coronavirus information to protect political egos - got us all into this mess in the first place.
The fact is, China’s authoritarianism - specifically, early censorship of #coronavirus information to protect political egos - got us all into this mess in the first place.
Dictatorships are not only abusive, they are hugely inefficient.
Faced with an emergency, some people may think otherwise, but they need to know the truth.
Faced with an emergency, some people may think otherwise, but they need to know the truth.
The truth is, the inevitable corruption & fear-based power structure of dictatorship destroys talent. Experts & innovators - those with ideas that create wealth or improve public good (or expose health dangers) - are seen as a threat & are silenced: killed, jailed or exiled.
When dictatorships fall, the evidence of their inefficiencies is overwhelming... Documents and witnesses detail the absurd time & money spent on creating and maintaining the instruments & bureaucracy of repression that only ever really served to keep the corrupt in power.
When dictatorships fall, we learn more than ever about the billions squirrelled away by corrupt officials in overseas bank accounts - money that was never used to build bridges or schools or hospitals back home - a total waste that guts the "efficiency of dictatorships" myth.
When dictatorships fall, we then learn about how "glorious" public works projects in actual fact were hugely inefficient horrors. By being turned more or less into slaves, people have no incentive but try to do as little as possible & just survive each day.
The point is, as well as being morally repugnant, using fear as a way to organize society is hugely inefficient. The propaganda of dictatorships saying otherwise has been very powerful throughout the ages, but we should resist it and see it for the simplistic lie that it is.
So, before you start praising the Chinese authorities’ response to #coronavirus, ask yourself if you’re just passing on Beijing’s propaganda...
And ask yourself how you can know what’s really going on in a country with strict state censorship & no free press...
And ask yourself how you can know what’s really going on in a country with strict state censorship & no free press...
And as for the solutions being suggested in your own country, in short: be a bit wary.
Read more about how governments should be fighting #coronavirus to protect both public health and your rights: hrw.org/news/2020/03/1…
Read more about how governments should be fighting #coronavirus to protect both public health and your rights: hrw.org/news/2020/03/1…
"We can choose to protect our health & stop #coronavirus not by instituting totalitarian surveillance but rather by empowering citizens… A self-motivated, well-informed population is usually far more powerful&effective than a policed, ignorant population" on.ft.com/399cixE
