Viral Alarm: When Fury Overcomes Fear

Excellent piece by a Chinese professor of law at Tsinghua University in China that discusses the Great Coronavirus Epidemic and the government's/Party's response to it. This long, thoughtful, very descriptive essay has a historical perspective and shines a spotlight on living in totalitarian tyranny (prints out as 20 pages). The author, Xu Zhangrun, pulls no punches and has been confined to his home by the Chinese authorities, according to the New York Times. English translation by Geremie R. Barmé.

Not for your average shitposter. Well worth the read, though. Here's an outline:

Viral Alarm: When Fury Overcomes Fear

1. Politics in a New Era of Moral Depletion

2. Tyranny in a New Era of Political License

3. A New Era of Attenuated Governance

4. A New Era of Resuscitated Court Politics

5. A New Era of Big Data Totalitarianism and WeChat Terror

6. A New Era That Has Shut Down Reform

7. A New Era of Isolation

8. A New Era in Which to Seek Freedom from Fear

9. A New Era in Which the Clock Is Ticking

Drafted on the Fourth Day of the First Lunar Month

Of the Gengzi Year of the Rat [28 January 2020]

Revised on the Ninth Day of the First Month [2 February]

As a snow storm suddenly assailed Beijing

NYT mention of the essay:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/world/asia/coronavirus-china.html

http://archive.md/e1vSL

The essay - Viral Alarm: When Fury Overcomes Fear

http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/viral-alarm-when-fury-overcomes-fear

http://archive.md/ctdwi