Force cannot restore legitimacy, trust or confidence, nor can it magically erase the consequences of a still-unfolding national trauma.

The Chinese authorities threatening to punish workers who refuse to return to work are getting a lesson in the limits of force in an unprecedented national trauma: a bayonet in the back will not restore the legitimacy and confidence that have been lost.

There are two enormous blind spots in conventional media coverage of the pandemic:

1. The limits of force in restoring China's economy to pre-pandemic levels.

2. The longer term (i.e. second-order) consequences of the immense trauma experienced by the Chinese people.