The appeal of rule-following is the idea that there is a way to never have to take risks. Sure, the rules may be unfair, but you come to feel that your rule-following will protect you.

It will not. There is no amount of rule-following that will stop an oppressive system from doing what it was built to do.

People are going to get hurt. There is no way to avoid that because that's what authoritarian systems do: they harm people, & the only way to stop it is to do things that aren't allowed.