Can We Please Just Blame the Virus?
The Chinese police have exercised unusual restraint in the face of the coronavirus outbreak.
It seems that just eight people have been detained so far, all doctors who early on turned to work-related chat groups to warn of the dangers of a new mysterious infection. The local police — an honorary, if usually uninvited, participant in every chat group in China — detected malfeasance and pounced, briefly detaining the doctors on grounds of rumor-mongering.
The new coronavirus, for its part, was treated with dignity and respect. When it first emerged, suspect 2019-nCoV appeared to be committing illegal assembly, unwanted touching and incitement to subvert the state.… Seguir leyendo »