Noblesse oblige

A few days ago I went on a website of a Russian economist Mikhail Khazin. I visit that website regularly for updates, and I had a great respect for this individual and for his economic theory. That theory, incidentally, allowed him to predict the current US crisis in his book published in Russia in 2003 "The sunset of the dollar empire, and the end of Pax Americana". The mechanism of the crisis described there prophetically predicted what we are seeing with our eyes today. His theory also outlines the future development of the crisis, and the picture is not pretty.

Besides his own articles, interviews, and findings, Mr. Khazin also includes other materials on the site. One of the recent ones was an article titled "American GULAG" which postulated that American economy is in the large part dependent of the modern slave labor of prisoners. It further stated that since US prisoners are disproportionately black, this is a good parallel to the modern day continuation of the old practice of enslaving African Americans. One of the quotes in the article was that of a Nigerian American activist of some radical organization whose goal is the closing of ALL prisons and rehabbing criminals in some communes. That guy stated that in the US blacks do not have any opportunities for professional advancement, and that their only choice is to either work for minimal pay or to resort to crime and then become slaves in a prison system.

Never before did I dare to comment any materials on that site, but the egregious statement above motivated me to speak up. I wrote a very level-toned response in the comments section that I find such a statement to be inaccurate judging by my personal experience: the current president of the US is an African American; so is his Harvard and Princeton educated wife; I personally know several black attorneys; among my neighbors are a black surgeon, and an CFO or a large hospital system; my husband's nurse is black, etc. Therefore there most certainly are avenues for advancement for African Americans in present day American other than crime.

I further opined that what hurts African Americans more than anything is the liberal-fostered attitude to them as victims of the system, as people who are less capable, who can't be expected to achieve anything in the society without extra privileges granted to them by the society in the form of affirmative action, quotas, etc. I don't know if many people in the US are aware of the fact that in Russia slavery was abolished around the same time as in America - in 1861, and slavery in Russia was in every way as brutal as it was in the States: a slave owner could kill or sell serfs, he could separate families, and do whatever he pleased with them. All the serfs were white, as were their owners, so it is impossible to say now just by looking at a person if his or her ancestors were slaves. There is absolutely no special rights granted to people based on their underprivileged past, and the society does not feel indebted to the descendants of the "wronged" individuals. One has to rely on his or her own merits to achieve success in life. I think this is a much healthier attitude which allows all to live with the attitude "I think I can."

I concluded my comment on Mr. Khazin's website with a phrase known to each Russian that a small lie breeds big mistrust.

To my utter amazement, Mr. Khazin personally responded to my post with a short remark that I am spreading American propaganda. Numerous other commentators engaged in a lively discussion on whether or not I (who published by comment under my full legal name) was a real person and whether I was a woman. (At that point I noticed with some amazement that I was the only woman writing in that forum - until then it never occurred to me to analyze the gender of the contributors.) Some people opined that the author clearly had balls, and therefore could not be a female. I tried arguing my position again, but to no avail. Mr. Khazin was clearly irritated by insistence that my remarks were just an attempt to point out factual mistake in the premises of an article, a mistake which is clear to any person familiar with the realities of life in America. He reiterated that my letter was propaganda which is "hostile to his analysis" and compared me to a freshman who is showing off at a professional level math seminar (Mr. Khazin was trained as a mathematician, and I suspect could have even been a student of my Dad's at Moscow State University, although that evidently has not helped him much).

What did this experience teach me?

1. That women are still not expected to have an opinion, let alone a gutsy one, in the Russian society.

2. That when facts contradict your analysis, by defending your analysis and ignoring the facts, you risk your reputation of an intelligent and trustworthy person.

3. That great thinkers can be petty individuals.

4. That when you forget that "noblesse oblige," you lose the "noblesse" for good.