By ALEXANDER DOLITSKY

I recently had a conversation with an American woman in her twenties about current events in our country. Let’s give her the pseudonym “Rebecca” to protect her anonymity.

During our talk, it didn’t take me long to recognize Rebeca’s leftist ideology: Christopher Columbus exploited indigenous peoples on his four voyages to the Caribbean islands at the end of the 15th century; the US Constitution was written only to benefit privileged whites; women in America have been discriminated against and suppressed throughout its history until today; America is the mother of capitalism, exploiting the underprivileged around the world; and, finally, the history of America must be rewritten in accordance with a far left “truth”.

I patiently listened to its progressive rhetoric, then tried to explain the subjective and objective causes of historical events in America in their real contexts, but with little success. His radical, progressive (brainwashing) beliefs were already deeply rooted in an awakened culture and far-left ideology.

Finally, she asked me, “What is greed and why are rich people so greedy, for example Jeff Bezos from Amazon?” “

“Okay, first, let’s define this concept – greed,” I suggested to Rebecca. We searched online for a definition and found that “…greed is an intense, selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.”

“You see, all rich people are greedy – they’re selfish, powerful and don’t want to share their wealth with those who need it,” Rebecca said fondly, confidently.

“It’s certainly a very general definition of greed,” I said. “Greed comes in many shapes and colors,” I suggested. “And who said that being rich is a crime? There have been many wealthy American entrepreneurs who have shared almost all of their wealth with others: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, John Davison Rockefeller, John Pierpont Morgan, to name a few. In fact, they were the engines of American prosperity, ”I continued.

“Yes, I know those names, but I never heard of them at school, not in great detail,” Rebecca admitted sheepishly.

“Let me share with you my personal experience related to greed in America,” I proposed; she was attentive and looked at me with interest.

“Shortly after my arrival in the United States in 1978, The Philadelphia Jewish Family Service found me a job at Philadelphia Embroidery Inc., a small embroidery and screen printing company then located at 12 and Race Street, close to downtown Philadelphia. Fred Tischler and his wife owned this business of about 10 to 12 employees — Fred, his wife and two young designers, Robin and John, worked at the front office, four to six embroiderers and two screen printers, of which Dave and I worked in the back. In short, it was a small family business, resembling American utility companies from the 1930s to the 1950s.

“My starting salary was $ 3.50 an hour. I had no health benefits, no sick leave, and no paid vacation. In 1978, the minimum wage in America was $ 2.65 an hour. During the 11 months of my job in embroidery in Philadelphia, I requested a raise three times. Each time, Mr. Tischler honored my request with an increase of 25 cents an hour.

“I traveled about an hour round trip to and from my workplace by bus, metro, and a short 10-minute walk. One winter morning, I was 15 minutes late for work due to heavy snowfall which caused serious traffic jams in the city. Fred Tischler and his wife were on vacation in the Bahamas and their daughter, a medical school student at the University of Pennsylvania, was filling in for them. On payday a week later, she issued me a check, deducting $ 1 for being 15 minutes late on the day of the heavy snowfall.“

“Well, how would you describe this treatment of the employee – work discipline or petty greed?” I asked Rebecca. She only smiled in silent response.

Indeed, Rebecca and like-minded Americans are the product of the neo-Marxist education system and intense indoctrination by far-left activists that can be found in many of our educational institutions today. . Sadly, so many young people in America are so confused and bewildered that any parent is truly lucky if their child manages to walk through the system like an old-fashioned “normal”, preserving strong Judeo-Christian moral values.

I use the term “old-fashioned” because the “normal” of today is certainly not a desirable outcome.

Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev, in the former Soviet Union. He obtained a master’s degree in history from the Pedagogical Institute in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1976; a master’s degree in anthropology and archeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enrolled in the doctorate. anthropology program at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer at the Russian Center. In the USSR he was professor of social studies for three years and archaeologist for five years for the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. In 1978 he moved to the United States. Dolitsky first visited Alaska in 1981, while conducting field research for Brown’s Senior School. He first lived in Sitka in 1985, then moved to Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was an archaeologist and social scientist at the US Forest Service. He was adjunct assistant professor of Russian studies at the University of Southeast Alaska from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and was director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted around 30 field studies in various regions of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and from the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a speaker on World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus and Clipper Odyssey ships in the arctic and subarctic regions. He was the project manager for the Alaska-Siberian World War II Lend-Lease Memorial, erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archeology and ethnography. His most recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Old Russian Believers in Alaska; Allies in wartime: the Alaska-Siberian airway during World War II; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Tales from the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends of Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberian air route during World War II; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of Old Russian Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.

Some of Dolitsky’s past chronicles on MRAK:

Read: Neo-Marxism and Utopian Socialism in America

Read: Old Believers Keeping Faith In The New World

Read: Duke Ellington and the effects of the Cold War in the Soviet Union on intellectual curiosity

Read: United We Stand Divided We Fall With Race And Ethnicity In America

Read: For America’s Schools To Be Successful, They Need This Ingredient

Read: Nationalism in America, Alaska, the World

To read: The case of the ‘delicious salad’

Read: White privilege is a disturbing prospect

Read: Beware of activists who manipulate history for their own agenda

Read: Alaska Day remembrance of the Russian transfer

Read: American leftism is the real picture of real hypocrisy

To read: History does not repeat itself

Read: The only Ford Mustang in Kiev