Dealing with people who are dumb, gullible, and mean - and seem to outnumber us. Rather than "mean" or cruel I think it must be understood in terms of artificially-generated panic: Right-wing media funded by right-wing billionaires have consistently pushed out fear to the general public. This is also amplified by the bought-off politicians who echo the fear and panic talking points.
BUT, this still wouldn't have the panic effect that you may see as cruelty, if it weren't for the fact that so many people are under heavy stress in their lives. Housing costs are increasingly unaffordable, food is too expensive, jobs are too insecure, and it's getting worse every day. That's some major stress! And we've allowed the right wing, billionaire-funded media to define the cause of all these problems as immigrants/trans people/"woke ideology" instead of the actual cause, which is the right-wing fascist billionaires funding it all and personally profiting from it. And this is what you get: Scared, stressed people get angry and lash out.
They wouldn't be mean if they hadn't been convinced that you are the cause of their suffering. They've been lied to, but we also stood by, mute for decades, as the lies took hold and brought forth this fruit.
