One of the things that makes it really normal and boring is that there aren’t explicit rules or guidelines that you gotta follow. You self-censor, and over-censor, because you don’t want to figure out where the line is that gets you the rarer, horrible moment where they take you away.
life under authoritarian regimes is like war: most Americans don’t know that it’s often really normal and boring, up until the rarer, horrible moments when it isn’t
The rule of law is good because it’s clear. A lack of rule of law is bad and you learn that when whatever you had been doing previously without incident all of the sudden becomes something unacceptable because of nebulous behind the scenes changes.
It’s how you end up with situations like this - when rights aren’t explicit they can be taken away without process or debate, in the blink of an eye
www.economist.com/china/2024/0...
