James Alefantis threatened to Kill Ryan. Doubters attacked Him. I 100% believed him. Here's Why.

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Update: Steemit is now censoring topics. I posted this yesterday and in 15 minutes had about 47 Likes organically. Then Steemit removed the pizzagate topic completely and despite promotion the following day the post only got about 3 more likes.

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Ever since Ryan Alexander O'Neal shared his frightening experience with us, he's attracted supportive fans and extremely harsh critics in equal measure. The critics treat him like a fool or accuse him of faking it.

Those who are fans don't understand the critics' behavior. And vice versa.

Joseph Campbell's work can help us understand why. Campbell researched ancient legends around the world and found that there are 8 types of people or characters in every hero's journey - universal to all cultures, all people, all countries. These archetypes are true to human behavior. And they have remained the same over thousands of years.

The list of 8 archetypes is interesting and I share the link at the end. Some of Ryan's critics are like The Guardian archetype whose message to the hero is: “go home and forget your quest.” “this way lies danger.” Indeed.

1. The Hero (also perceived as a fool)
   According to Campbell, in order to become a hero, every hero has to leave the world they are familiar with and enter a new one. This new world is so different that "whatever skills they have are no longer sufficient". They rush in where angels fear to tread. The more cautious types think they are fools and seek to stop them, or criticize their lack of skills to cope with the new territory. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Stop! You have no skills!" is the mantra.

Look, if playing safe is a top life priority then all heroes are fools. If protesting cruel or unjust behavior is dangerous, all heroes are fools. It's just common sense.

I'm no heroine but I have challenged bad people. Injustice or cruelty gets me doing things I shouldn't. I don't know how to fire a gun and have never taken self defence classes. I was raised in a world of books, horses, dogs, cats and private schools, without much sense of it being a dangerous world.

I have 2 prime examples in my life where I look back and think what a fool I was. The first time was for taking on a CEO in a foreign country, who tried to molest me (I was told if I retracted my police statement we could walk away without consequences. I refused because there was no way I was going to say I had lied, as well as the thought of other women he might abuse if I didn't report him then...). The second time it was a group of drug traffickers.

I'm glad I did because of my VALUE SYSTEM, but I also berate myself for it because of the consequences. See, value systems direct our actions. So do emotions, sure. But I think emotions are driven by our values.

The first time I acted like a fool harmed my career and right to reside in a foreign country. The 2nd time caused me to get a terrifying phone call and move states, hiring a soldier/ex mercenary to keep me safe.

What Ryan did gives me deja vu. I received a call on my cell while at home during the day, from an unidentified number, about 2 months after hiring a PI to track some people I suspected of trafficking drugs.

Let me add, I wasn't meddling in some strangers' affairs. I was linked to someone who I was warned was doing this who I wouldn't have dreamed was involved. My personal value system is that drug cartels are murderers because I've seen peoples' lives destroyed by addiction. I think the same of pedophiles, that they destroy lives, but I have no personal experience with that.

The conversation with the stranger went pretty much like the Alefantis/Ryan chat. Threats, pretending to be the good guy if I did as he advised. Letting me know he knew I was at home and that "home was not the safest place to be" talking to him... I remember almost stopping breathing when he mentioned Interpol in the first sentence because the PI team had recently done so. I had not believed them. And then again when he mentioned my location. My brain became a scrambled emergency station. I couldn't think. Why? Because just like Campbell says, that isn't my world. I don't have the skills. I had no experience dealing with savages. I was a fool and had stepped into an abyss.

Throughout the conversation I kept thinking is he a good guy or is he a bad guy? He gave me such mixed signals. Just like JA gave Ryan. I was so out of my depth that when he asked if I had a security person or attorney looking after me I gave him a straight answer. I even handed over my new lawyer's number when he asked for it. Dumb move. Lawyers can be bribed. I remember hoping for mental clarity and not getting any. I remember trying to calm my breathing and voice. I remember hoping he'd continue talking a lot so I could get time to think.

After reading this, please google Stockholm Syndrome. Here's how it goes. First the caller terrifies you. While you're traumatized they extract info from you and tell you how to behave. Your brain is scrambled with disbelief and panic. Whoever moves first has the ambush advantage. Although your priority is to get away, you hang in there, hoping to get some info that could help you. And you try to disarm them by acting submissive or at least cooperative.

And by the way, I didn't leave the city that night. I hired bodyguards night and day and started packing. Most importantly of all, after about 48hrs of this I reached a stunning conclusion. There is no amount of money that will keep you safe if you have info that threatens bad, ruthless people. You can't hire bodyguards every day for the rest of your life. So you have to do what Ryan did. All I had was the info - the same thing that threatened me could save me.

I must have spent about 3 hours writing that email, but sent it out, copying everyone linked to the drug traffickers that I could. I'm talking their fathers, their social friends, their friends with high powered corporate careers. :) And I told them I was copying a journalist and lawyer and military expert. All true. I described the threatening call in detail, laid out my accusations and what the PI had told me and said if anything bad happened to me the lawyer, the journalist etc would get into action. After that, no problemo. Here I am 3.5 years later :) It wasn't a public case like Pizzagate so I couldn't use Steemit or Youtube lol but if it was I would have done exactly the same as Ryan.

My second point about the way we behave around bad people is that we all have some kind of archetype inside us. The character we feel most affinity with. My personal opinion, after reflecting a lot on this is that we must have all taken Walt Disney and Superman movies to heart as kids. We chose our favorite characters and aspired to be like them. As we grew up and realized we couldn't do all those things we chose to keep some of the values our preferred characters held.

And those values direct our actions.

Those of us who favored characters like Snow White or Luke Skywalker can't grasp why some kids would feel more affinity with Medusa or Darth Vader. But they do. We automatically think they had monsters for parents, but if you read The Soul's Code by James Hillman you'll learn that parents are not the cause.

I wanted to share my personal experience to explain that receiving a sudden call or request to chat from a monster, leaves you feeling ambushed. If it were a physical encounter it would be more predictable. Some run, some fight. People generally have more experience with physical reactions and choices. In physical encounters the SUBCONSCIOUS brain rules and it is smarter than any prize-winning chessmaster. We've all read the stories of old ladies beating thugs off with a few sharp words or a handbag. I met a tall thin 70 year old who had grabbed the gun out of the hands of a burglar in his yard after whacking two of them with his tennis racquet. He didn't believe it when the police told him. They had the CCTV. The conscious brain isn't needed for physical responses in times of danger. It's mush by then anyway.

But when it's a voice in your ear or some words on a screen, while the heart pounds just as fast and the hands shake just as much, your conscious brain becomes spaghetti just when it's your only weapon. You cannot use your subconscious brain in a mental fight. You're too conscious. It's a mental war precisely at a time when your brain is flooded with fear, rendering it useless. And the terrorizer has the advantage of surprise. They use terror like a weapon.

(And yes, I received a terrifying call from the CEO psycho as well, 3 months after the incident, telling me he'd just flown into the country and was staying in an executive condo NEXT DOOR to my residence. Not the usual 5 star hotel. He rattled off the name of my residence just for good measure... It was 21h00 on a Friday night. That was the first time I'd encountered the concept of a real savage. A psycho. Whatever they are. My whole body shook, not just my hands. I was in my 20s and in a foreign country with little support. He knew that. I was terrified that he knew no boundaries. That he might do something whacky I'd never thought of. I was terrified that not even reporting him had stopped him. All the original terror resurfaced tenfold. Psychopaths use guerilla techniques). And I have to add that my terror was despite the fact that not a single item of clothing was ever removed in the first encounter and I got out of there physically fine. My subconscious brain outsmarted his. Still, I was as terrified by his psycho mind as I imagine those poor kids are with the pedophiles.

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Here's Ryan's face when describing the experience of having his loved ones threatened. Someone made a video about this on Youtube (see video below) and argued that you can't fake that look. I know it well. It's disbelief, trauma, shock. You name it. And as for Ryan's smiles later in the video that people have criticized. Come on. Laughter, smiling, giggling are all nervous reactions to extreme trauma. Even today if someone tells me a terrifying story I first express sympathy and then start giggling with relief when their story gets to the more relaxed part, at whatever point I can. It's ridiculous but I do. I try to make them see things are okay now because their panic reminds me of my former frightening experiences and I want to get rid of it asap. They probably don't understand. :(

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So I just want to say to Ryan's critics. Don't judge till you experience it personally. Don't underestimate the effect of trauma or the charm of psychopaths. They've used it all their lives to manipulate people and we are all out of our depth.

But be glad for fools and heroes who are often the same thing. They are following a value system, usually at great cost to themselves. They may seem reckless but they often rattle the bad guys and cause them harm. Which is a good thing. The father who shoots the man who rapes his child is a fool. And he is also a hero. The young guys in Michigan who chased the baby kidnapper in their car were fools and also heroes. So was the 14 year old in Arizona who let a raped woman into his home because she was begging for help at the door. Never mind that the rapist then set fire to his home. The fool/hero called his dad to come quickly and 911 got there before they all died.

As that famous Apple ad said best, "Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers..."

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Sources:
The video that Ryan was asked to take down:
https://steemit.com/pizzagate/@gizmosia/james-alefantis-threatens-kill-room-finder-breaking-news

Joseph Campbell's 8 archetypes on the hero's journey:
http://mythcreants.com/blog/the-eight-character-archetypes-of-the-heros-journey/