It also exposed a lot of things that had been hidden from sight before, ranging from the way the general population will react to a perceived emergency, to the way people will react to anyone who doesn't conform to the narrative, to the multi-layered justice and enforcement system. A lot of people at least started to wake up, even if bleary-eyed and confused.

It wasn't all for nothing, but it was a series of lessons that came with a high cost.