Three news events managed to grab my attention on March 1:

Event One: Alexei Navalny was buried in Moscow. The most prominent political enemy and critic of President Vladimir Putin, he mysteriously died at a penal camp while serving his trumped-up prison terms. His death outraged America’s and the world’s liberal conscience, which considered him the symbol of that very conscience.

Event Two: The two Koreas, both South and North, celebrated their historical day. On March 1, 1919, millions of Koreans rose up to protest the Japanese occupation of Korea, in which over 10,000 protesters were killed and scores imprisoned by Japan’s colonial government. This event is memorialized and the leaders of this March 1st Movement are enshrined in Korea’s pantheon of heroes.

Event Three: MSNBC introduced a book by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont titled “It’s OK to be Angry About Capitalism.” Although published last year, MSNBC chose to publicize it this month and I myself learned of the book. (The word “Angry” is actually red-lettered on the cover). Sanders, a vocal advocate of “socialism,” rejects the idea that anti-capitalism is un-American. “Tthere is nothing more American,” says he, “than questioning the system that has failed us and demanding changes.” So, Sanders’ book encourages Americans to stand up to capitalism: Be a Navalny, he says in essence; Navalny stood up to political tyranny, so you as an American should stand up to economic tyranny.

Considered individually, these disparate events have no particular common grounds: a murdered dissident-hero in Russia, Koreans commemorating their history, and the senator from Vermont saying don’t be afraid of getting angry about capitalism.

But together, these disparate events raise a sudden question in my mind: Who is America’s Navalny who has stood up to America’s tyranny and is threatened with death?

Indeed, who has stood up to the tyranny of capitalism, which controls America’s minds, pockets and liberties, from which no American can escape? Who has earned our admiration and respect as our folk hero, facing a martyr’s death? Who is about to be memorialized in American history and consciousness as the future Navalny of America?

None.

There are no American heroes that would measure up to Navalny (and you don’t count the millionaire Super Bowl winners). Even Sen. Sanders, who tells us to bravely stand up to these capitalists, himself made $2.5 million from his other books. The top-rated analyst at MSNBC makes 10 times that much annually from her fearless critique of American capitalism.

Both capitalism and anti-capitalism in America make money. If Navalny were American — famous for criticizing the capitalist system and its super-rich — would we still show the same respect and admiration?

Now, some can say that we need no Navalny-like heroics because America is such a just and free society, which requires no martyrs. That type of heroism works only in a terrible totalitarian country like Russia, not in America’s exemplary democracy.

Of course, that’s flat-out nonsense. As Putin controls the political system of Russia as Russia’s political god, our capitalist overlords control our economic (and political) system completely, like gods. We cannot live a day without their credit cards; we cannot move around without their cars and their monopoly expenses; we stay enslaved to their banks for life just to have a roof over our heads; we cannot live without their daily entertainment in which every laugh, natural or artificial, costs an arm and a leg.

At the end of each month, we have nothing left as every penny we earn goes back to our capitalist overlords from whom we receive our daily wages. Would America’s own Navalny not go down fighting such tyranny?

Quiet amazingly, for a free and individualistic people, Americans are all scared to death of doing something that would cause their own prosecution or unemployment. Getting along (“Don’t cause trouble!”) is everyone’s living guide. This fear of offending our government and corporations (who control our liberties and our lifelines, respectively) is so great that an esteemed senator, from his safe perch of protection, had to write a book to tell Americans not to be afraid of standing up to capitalism. Instead, we stupidly support tax cuts for the rich!

Where are America’s Navalnys to be our heroes and role models? If it weren’t for the MAGA crazies, doing their insanely unconventional things, you would think everybody in America is at the opium den for his daily TV and internet addictions.

All the Navalnys be damned!

We celebrate all those Russian dissidents, but not our own. Nobody in America likes America’s own dissidents and critics. Go criticize Putin but not our American capitalist system and its CEOs. If you want to criticize the system, do it in Russia, not in America. We can criticize anybody in America, especially elected politicians, but never capitalists, CEOs or the super-rich. Even the MAGA tough guys are docile butt-kissers of the rich.

Sanders says get angry about capitalism. But anger is a dangerous thing in America. If you do something odd — like the Massachusetts airman who recently self-immolated at the Israeli Embassy shouting “Free Palestine!” — you are likely to end up at a mental ward. After reporting on the airman’s death, MSNBC actually recommended that all potential dissidents contact the nationwide “Suicide & Crisis Lifeline,” 988. In other words, Navalny might be a mental case if he were American!

Indeed, if you are planning to become America’s own Navalny-like hero, be prepared to be branded either a commie or a nutcase.

Jon Huer, columnist for the Recorder and retired professor, lives in Greenfield.