That's what you get with authoritarianism. Both the carrots (political advancement) and the sticks (punishment from above) encourage underlings to obey what the

That's what you get with authoritarianism. Both the carrots (political advancement) and the sticks (punishment from above) encourage underlings to obey what they think their superiors would command, even when those superiors are not involved. The pithiest example is the death of Li Wenliang. The doctor who was threatened and silenced for warning others of a SARS outbreak, himself died of the disease when it spread due to inaction.