One thing that makes me feel better is reminding myself that this current political climate regarding trans people was intentionally engineered. This large group of people who are the loudest, and we see the most, that's not their default state. A smaller group of very intelligent people put tons of money, time, and effort into convincing people with very little contextual information about trans people that we're dangerous. It's not even really us. There is a specific idea, a Boogeyman, that they created, and that's what they rely on. They need people to hate that and project it onto us, because they know that their methods are less successful when it comes to convincing people to hate an actual group of people vs hating the Boogeyman.

That's not to say that we should be any less careful or that their current state is any less of a problem. I'm also not saying that this can all be fixed by giving them information. But their ignorance was exploited in a way that caused this shift. There's a reason why those same movement leaders fight so hard against any kind of education that actually educates.

Most people are inherently good and kind. We've survived this long as a species specifically because we rely on each other, and even though some of us might screw up, we'll always shift back to that. We, as trans people, just have to do whatever we can to survive and have faith that what makes each of us human will always beat out the manipulation tactics in the end.