CCP and Mr. Xi’s Learning Disability
Two full months into the Covid-19 crisis, we see where Mr. Xi’s crackdown on communication and openness has taken him. He is himself in no danger, but CCP runs into a conceptual wall with free flow of information. That is a disability – a learning disability – for CCP and China now.
For leaders, information does not want to be free - in US or China
Masks of the Red (Cross) Death
You remember the Edgar Allan Poe story - The Masque of the Red Death
Prospero and 1,000 other nobles have taken refuge in this walled abbey to escape the Red Death, a terrible plague with gruesome symptoms that has swept over the land. Victims are overcome by "sharp pains", "sudden dizziness", and "profuse bleeding at the pores", and die within half an hour. Prospero and his court are indifferent to the sufferings of the population at large; they intend to await the end of the plague in luxury and safety behind the walls of their secure refuge, having welded the doors shut.
“Abandon all hope” is how I titled a recent post on the response of Wuhan people to the virus. The title was based on the stories I was hearing, both live and through wechat groups.
Update at January 30 - regarding the doctor who was disciplined for sharing information on the virus with his wechat group - there are now eight doctors in Wuhan who have been so disciplined. In at least one case, the information sharing was among a wechat group of doctors involved in treating the infection. You know the phrase, "No good deed goes unpunished." No doubt these doctors -involved as they were in fighting this disease, without break for days - forgot the cardinal rule I mentioned below in the original post - "no one should comment without knowing all the facts." Only the government can know all the facts.
Breaking – Coronavirus information now under control Tuesday, January 28 10:00 AM
From three days ago -
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/25/c_138733715.htm
… According to the meeting, Xi has been paying very close attention to the outbreak as he held multiple meetings, heard many reports and made important instructions on the matter, demanding Party committees and governments at all levels and related departments to put people's life and health as the top priority.
From yesterday -
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/27/c_138737735.htm
… Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of a leading group of the CPC Central Committee on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak, extended regards to the medical workers at the frontline on behalf of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council.
