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China Elevator Stories
Why, as a Truth Teller, I Have Been Punished Horrifically for Speaking the Truth in Austria
A Truth Teller is a person who speaks the truth, points out the truth, even when they are punished for doing so or when the truth may be inconvenient to speak.
12/08/2025
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
I don’t know if Truth Tellers are born this way, but I am a Truth Teller myself. This character trait has caused me to be attacked by a mass of people, over and over again, in the years I have spent in Austria (from 2019–2025).
Why are Truth Tellers being targeted so much? Well, I don’t have a complex answer, but I can tell you what my experience has been. For one, Truth Tellers, if they are intelligent enough to observe patterns going on in society, don’t hold back. They speak about what they have observed, and they don’t lie about these patterns or sugarcoat reality, or enable other people to keep lies going. When they see a narcissist, they’ll point it out. They put boundaries on narcissists and will be frequently attacked. When they see abuse, they will also point it out. But in Austria, we are dealing with a whole society that is “in denial.” We have a few Truth Tellers in Austria, and I am always glad when I come across one, but all in all, in my generation, Truth Tellers seem to be rare.
A Truth Teller is not the same as a person who is “woke.” A person who is woke argues for things that are unfair to be made “just,” even if they are not aligned with true justice. A Truth Teller observes reality and reports on it. A “woke” person twists reality to gain more rights than others, while others receive fewer rights and more injustices. For example, a “woke” person might argue that men should receive more rights than women, claiming that otherwise they would be excluded from society. Their arguments twist truth and reality; they do not seek fair treatment for unfair behavior but rather unfair treatment—being chosen over others, receiving more rights than others—based on their belief that they are superior, deserve more, and must be treated preferentially rather than equally. This is exactly how a narcissist reasons.
Why are Truth Tellers targeted? Well, I can only assume that people need to protect an image of everything being fine, nothing being out of control, democracy being intact, and all of the values that we stand for as Austrians—being an autonomous, independent, democratic country where people are allowed to speak freely and where no one is treated abusively or abysmally, by individual people and authorities alike, and where all in all, everything’s perfect and great—needs to be protected by people who aren’t courageous enough to confront reality.
In reality, we are closer to a society such as the one that existed during World War II than ever before. People have turned cold, cruel, and selfish, and if you’re in a situation where you truly need help, know that the people who can’t deal with the raw truth, people who need to hide the truth, mask it, who need to paint a picture of Austrian women being treated equally to Austrian men (or let’s say “women who live in Austria,” since not all of us are Austrian), when this couldn’t be further from the truth.
People seem to be working for a “lower good” (or actually, no good at all), not a “higher good” of all of society; most people are only after their own selfish gains, and no one truly is willing to help anyone without then betraying that very person in the end. Ask for a favor, and you’ll very much have to face either having to pay it back 10,000-fold, or being punished for asking for a favor, because everyone is able to live life “independently,” and no one ever needs any help from others (in the mind of the people I have met). This certainly isn’t true at all. A person may be in need of a lot of help but get none, and may not be able to turn her circumstances around because of this lack of receiving help from kind people who are willing to give without asking for anything in return. When accepting help may cost you your life later, certainly, you may think twice about asking for help.
The abuse and derogatory treatment of women is also at an all-time high, or maybe men have always treated women poorly, and this hasn’t been obvious to me in the past. I was treated fairly well by my father, and he taught me that women and men are equal, that women are just as intelligent and deserving as men, and that women have a right to be treated respectfully. Because I grew up with a father who treated me like a valuable human being, I did not know that not every father treated girls like this and that some girls may have grown up differently. So, in my childhood, though it wasn’t completely perfect, what I learned is that I am loved when I am myself, when I am an introvert, when I need privacy, when I am my own person, and when I speak my mind. I was never punished by him for doing so and for having these needs; therefore, I learned that I am lovable just the way I am and that I don’t need to work to earn that love from others.
When I pointed certain patterns out to other people or tried to prove that I was not to blame for how I was treated by men, by the courts, and other authorities, they turned me into the “identified patient,” or they tried to “shoot the messenger.” Instead of allowing people to voice what was truly going on in Austria (and I honestly don’t know if Austria used to be like this about 20 years ago, it certainly didn’t seem like it was to me), including other critical voices, the people who did speak up had to deal with smear campaigns, being painted as insane, crazy, mentally ill, and they were isolated from their circles of friends, from their families, and quite a few took their life because of the smear campaigns and the hatred they received from strangers as well as friends alike.
“Shooting the messenger” has become so common that a majority of people hide behind masks, lie when it is safer to do so than to speak the truth, and pretend that nothing’s wrong when a lot is going wrong. This phrase is described on fatslang.com as follows:
“Shoot the Messenger” is a slang term that refers to a situation where someone delivers bad news or information, and then they are blamed or punished for it. The phrase implies that the person delivering the message is being unfairly targeted instead of the actual source of the problem.
The origins of this phrase can be traced back to ancient times when messengers were responsible for delivering important news, such as the outcome of a battle or the death of a leader. In some cases, the messenger would be killed or punished if the news was unfavorable. This practice was meant to discourage messengers from delivering bad news, but it also led to the phrase “shoot the messenger” being used to describe situations where someone is punished for simply delivering a message.
Today, the term is commonly used in various contexts, such as politics, business, and even personal relationships. For example, if an employee informs their boss that a project is behind schedule due to unforeseen circumstances, and the boss responds by firing the employee, this would be considered “shooting the messenger.”
In some cases, the act of shooting the messenger can have serious consequences. It can create a culture of fear and discourage people from speaking up or reporting problems, which can lead to bigger issues down the line. Additionally, it can cause resentment and distrust between individuals and groups, making it difficult to resolve conflicts or work together effectively.
Some friendships these days are ended not because one person wanted to end it, but because a friend turned on them or put their life at great risk. Family members have also turned on others in their family more than ever before, and don’t ask me why, but it can be observed in many Austrian families, not just one.
All of this is hidden. Almost no one used to publicly speak about it because of the silencing, punishment, censorship, and all the other threats and intimidation they would receive for speaking up. People may have had their own private opinions, but they may not have voiced them openly.
A person who still speaks her truth even when things have taken a downturn like this is called a Truth Teller. A true Truth Teller may see her life being put at risk by people who deny the truth, who hide the truth, and who run away from the truth. A person who is the opposite of a Truth Teller may hide the reality of having been in an abusive relationship until the end of her life, pretending she experienced the romance of her life, was with a great man, and had a good relationship every day. A person who is a Truth Teller will call abuse abuse once she has realized that this was what she experienced, and may spread the truth about what happened to her, no matter how much her life may be put at risk in the process of doing so.
But even when someone is a Truth Teller and isn’t as outspoken about the truth, they may be targeted. Whenever I post a single blog post, I will be put down, degraded, shouted at, and experience yet another smear campaign being started by men who are jealous of my blogging. It is not a reaction that has anything to do with me, since I don’t blog for the numbers or so that I’ll receive accolades; I blog because I enjoy blogging and sharing stories. I appreciate anyone who writes a blog who shares stories about what’s truly going on, and I appreciate any independent journalist and good authors. We have seen a real decline in Truth Tellers, in my or the younger generations. In my experience, more Truth Tellers existed in my parents’ generation, though I don’t know if the same was the case in Vienna. Certainly, in Upper Austria, Truth Tellers weren’t uncommon enough for me to think I was one of many, not the ordinary.
Truth Tellers are targeted so much that some of them, including me, have had to leave the country to protect their lives. My life has been put into danger by various people who turned against me, or who are simply going after Truth Tellers because they want to live in their delusions of the grandiosity of being a man, live in their delusion that a man has rights and women don’t (such as the singer, who has turned completely cruel, gaslighting me at every turn, hacking into my internet and blog all of the time so I won’t get to blog, or do the task I set out to do uninterruptedly, so he can fulfill his own selfish, arrogant goals, including not allowing me to call abuse abuse, not love, and to point out that he is abusive, lying to my face, gaslighting, and doing all other sorts of things to keep me from being able to work in peace, live in peace, and be free from threats, intimidation, liars and all the other things that come with having a person go after your life because you pointed out they had a flaw or weren’t as superior as they thought they were and had no right to get a say in your life or for others to control it to the point of you almost dying—that’s certainly another story; I haven’t shared much about the abuse on here for fear of being taken to court by a person who can easily manipulate other people and get them on their side).
Men in my generation—well, many simply can’t deal with having their flaws or poor behavior pointed out to them. If that’s how little courage you have, how little self-reflection you have, how little self-criticism you allow, well, let’s agree on one thing: You’re wasting my time by being in denial of the truth, and by forcing me to live my life in an unnatural kind of way that is harming my health. You are also harming me through constantly punishing me and painting me as being the one who is to blame for what other people did to me, who is painted as being a narcissist and deserving of poor treatment and abuse, etc.
Usually, if you have been abused by a man and point it out, or if you have been stalked and harassed and simply speak up, the abuser will often go after you until you are dead. That’s how afraid these people are of the truth coming out, of people seeing who they truly are. Only a Truth Teller will speak the truth about the abuse they have suffered, or do so without keeping it a secret (sometimes even Truth Tellers wait years after the abuse has occurred, out of fear of retribution or being shamed and blamed by others—fears that, by the way, are completely justified). I have no problem calling abuse abuse, and I will do so to an abuser’s face, which always leads to the abuser denying it and then taking revenge on me. The revenge narcissists take can be manifold, such as destroying your relationships with people who matter to you, denying you help when you truly need it to save your life, harassing you through endless verbal abuse, or using other abusive and manipulative tactics that never allow you to live your life uninterrupted.
Common signs of a Truth Teller are the following:
- They’ll name what’s happening even when others avoid it or find it inconvenient.
- They don’t soften truth to protect false comfort.
- They choose the truth over social approval, which may lead to full isolation from society.
- They value accuracy and honesty more than fitting in, avoiding conflict, or protecting reputations.
- They’re willing to lose relationships, jobs, or status rather than lie.
- They refuse to enable false narratives and people who abuse, lie, manipulate, and betray others. They also refuse to lie about narcissists or call cruel, selfish people “normal, kind people.”
- They don’t participate in group denial, cover-ups, or silent complicity.
- They resist pressure to “go along” with distorted narratives.
- Their truth-telling sometimes results in personal loss, social backlash, or being ostracized, as has been seen on a large scale during the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria.
- They can’t not do so; they are born in a way where lying about injustices, abuse, the cruelties or wrong behavior of groups or individuals, or a democracy going down a wrong path, is impossible for them.
- They speak the thing everyone sees but no one wants to acknowledge—even in tense or taboo contexts—or they see things before everyone else sees them.
- Their statements can be checked against reality; they’re not just venting feelings as “truth.” They are also not spreading false narratives calling it the truth; they simply state what they are observing or what they have truly experienced.
- They don’t suddenly change their story to avoid discomfort when challenged.
- Even when a gun is pointed at their heads or their life is otherwise in danger, they will still speak the truth because they cannot lie about the truth. They feel a personal obligation to tell the truth, especially when silence would harm others or enable abuse.
After years of silence, some Truth Tellers have spoken up online, making it more obvious what happened to many people, not just one. I, for one, once lost my job because I spoke the truth, which I believe always leads to a woman losing her job. A person who is not a Truth Teller may simply act as though nothing were wrong and as though she didn’t experience unfair treatment, abuse, stalking, sexual harassment, or the like, so she wouldn’t lose her job. A Truth Teller will inadvertently tell the truth and risk being removed from her post and losing her job, but that is a risk they are willing to take because not telling the truth is simply impossible for them.
When you are confronting a narcissist to stop them from stalking you, harassing you, or abusing you, know that any malignant narcissist (whom I have met) will use a method commonly called “DARVO.” DARVO stands for Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. I have written about how I experienced this from a sociopathic stalker, then another stalker at work, and I have also experienced it firsthand when dealing with a singer who has been stalking and harassing me. Mx ex-husband, naturally, does the same. Any malignant narcissist I have come across does this. These people, when confronted with the truth, will always deny it, and others may do the same, so beware that when you have experienced abuse, rape, stalking, harassment, or other similar actions, which sometimes may be going on for years, not just for a few weeks (which can already be stressful enough), this is what you’ll likely have to deal with as the aftermath of bringing the truth to light.
These abusers usually also stalk you so that they always know what you say to whom, and that they can always get ahead of the narrative, control it and change it, so the truth about them can’t be reported and so that they can keep their clean image of being a respectful, non-abusive, normal person, while they make sure that the narrative you write, where you simply report the truth, is twisted into making you out to be crazy, mentally ill, schizophrenic, or otherwise not normal enough to be able to observe the truth with your own eyes, to report the truth truthfully, or to know what truly happened to you.
If you believe that Austria is like … “Austria” (a beautiful little country where men and women are equal and people live free lives in beautiful mountain towns and in harmony with each other), well, know it is not! It is more like what we know is being reported from countries such as Iran or the United Arabian Emirates, where when you’re a female Truth Teller who speaks up about the abuse she experienced, about the injustices she experienced, about authorities acting to protect male offenders, about what’s going on in society, you’re going to become a target, your life will be in danger, and you’re going to be smeared until you want to take your life. Or rather: If you’re female, but I know it may only happen to female Truth Tellers, not those women who have a support system that protects them and who aren’t Truth Tellers, since I am the only one in my own personal group of friends and family who has reported having such things happen to her, I also know that it seemingly doesn’t happen to those who don’t speak the truth and those who stay silent when they see what’s truly going on.
I have also heard of male Truth Tellers who have experienced similar scenarios of being harassed and silenced, but know that as a female Truth Teller, certain situations may be even more severe, because it is more likely that you are being threatened with rape and death simply because you are a woman, it happens less to men (well, death threats may happen, but I believe that more women receive them from men who are malignant narcissists). You may constantly have to deal with being diminished, being labeled mentally ill for speaking out, and being regarded as a person without rights simply because you’re a woman.
I have heard similar things are going on in Germany, and I have also been attacked by German men, incels, stalkers, abusers, rapists, people who want to uphold that men have rights and women don’t, who want to keep harassing women, raping women, who want women not to speak about this truth (or they may end up dead or in prison, but at the very least they will be fined, sometimes more than just once, for speaking the truth so they can be censored and won’t talk about the truth in the future).
The video below, “Francesca Albanese on Germany’s Censorship: ‘Fear Crimes, Not Words’”, addresses precisely the issues I have personally experienced. This was the primary reason—among other considerations—why I ultimately left Austria after enduring years of harassment, physical and verbal attacks, violations of women’s privacy, sexual harassment, censorship, stalking, and intimidation by men, on an almost daily basis.
Thank you , Ms Albanese, for speaking up. Yes, this is exactly what I have experienced—threats and intimidation everywhere, not only by individuals, but also by the authorities, including courts and the police.
Have you ever experienced negative consequences for speaking the truth?
On a side note:
If you see a white headline here that says “new article 1,” know that it was added by one of the stalkers I have while writing this post. These stalkers believe I have no right to privacy or to blog privately and are trying to stop me from blogging. This wasn’t the only block I encountered—this particular person also hacked ChatGPT in a way that prevented it from correcting my article.
(I’ve fixed the issue now.)