Thread by @moritheil

Whatever else may be said of China, I do not think they would station 25,000 troops in a city only to have taxi drivers murdered in broad daylight.

In fact, this reminds me of a story.

https://twitter.com/SchoolOfAmerica/status/1376015224633917441

There was a town in China famous for its beautiful lakes, which drew a lot of tourists. This inspired a local gang leader to try to kidnap some foreigners for ransom.

As happens sometimes when conducting international negotiations for large sums of money, the deal fell through.

This resulted in a dead foreigner, which was COMPLETELY unacceptable to the government's plans to develop the area.

The Red Army was sent in. The commander was told to fix the problem. He was not told to respect anyone's rights. He was told to FIX THE PROBLEM.

So he immediately imposed martial law, curfews, patrolmen on corners, etc. and proceeded to lean heavily on the locals. Some of them coughed up the name of the local gang leader.

This gang leader was tortured, signed a confession, was stood against a wall, and shot.

Their job done, the Red Army swiftly departed - but not before leaving a final warning to the locals.

"If we have to come back," the officer explained, "We will come back with tanks. Remember that."

For the next decade, the town was remarkably free of violent crime.

It's important in life to meet people where they are. Speak their language.

Some can be reasoned with, and persuaded not to kill others, and that is good.

And certain others have to live in fear of consequences.

Every sufficiently large society contains both types of people.