MAGA fanatics, like coyotes, are a lot more afraid of you than you are of them. The same is true for any bully — your parents were absolutely right about bullies. They act the way they do because you pose a threat.

Bigotry has taken many forms across the ages, and is seen by some as even a biological development in certain ways. Hunter-gatherers of old had small areas they stuck to and weren’t likely to come across other bands of people that looked different than them. Any difference in appearance among strangers was a threat.

Difference in behavior was even more threatening.

That all evolved into the religious zealotry, racism, homophobia, and transphobia of today (sexism, equally nefarious, evolved from other survival instincts).

Imagine that evolutionary chart you’re all familiar with, that starts with monkey and ends with upright man. Now put a red ballcap on the one right about in the middle. That’s who we’re dealing with: The tribes of people whose evolutionary instincts never came to include valuing intelligence, altruism, or inclusivity.

But that’s what makes it so baffling for us fully-upright sort. How have those cretins made it? Well, they evolved into bullies.

Today’s example of MAGA hysteria comes from award-winning and revolutionary transgender actress Alexandra Billings. She was quite literally the very first openly trans actress in film. So much more than an actress, she’s a woman with a life story unlike most. She’s been a sex worker, a drug addict, a teacher, an activist, and a social media giant.

She says that MAGA bullies forced her off the popular social media platform TikTok by “mass reporting” her account as being in violation of the Terms of Service.

It wasn’t, of course. But bullies have long used this tactic because even the smallest platforms can’t be attended by humans all day long. The operators of Facebook and X, of BlueSky and Instagram and Threads, they all must rely on an algorithm. It learns behaviors, stores keywords, and ends up doing most of the “moderation” on sites itself.

And one of the most basic flaws of the system is that, because there’s not generally a human evaluating complaints and reports, but rather a machine that decides based on volume of complaints, “mass reporting” can be very effective in getting someone shut down.

It’s been happening since the dawn of the internet.

In an Instagram post, Billings announced that she’d been permanently banned from TikTok, the video-sharing site. That site has become so popular that companies now capture video footage for advertisements in “portrait” mode rather than the familiar “landscape” to optimize it for ads being seen on a phone.

The post, which cannot be seen unless you log in to Instagram (I believe she set her account to private for viewing by logged-in users only), features a screenshot of the notification of her getting her appeal denied. The text accompanying it is defiant.

Since the day DT became Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, I noticed my numbers on the Tickety were going up.
Very quickly.
I have a team of humans who are extremely particular. And when something strange happens, they are on it. Like flies to sugar cubes
Them, being the sugar.
They have protected me and kept me from possible triggering, comments, and humans.
But this rise in viewers was even baffling them.
I told him this has happened before. And ever since the DTs began the MAGA Cult has found myTikTok’s triggering.
And like most cowards, they are bullies.
And like most bullies, they run.
So instead of facing me human to human, they got together, mass reported me, and got me permanently banned.
They think this is somehow going to silence me. They think that somehow I’m going to remain quiet. Docile. Perhaps just keep lip syncing to Barbra Streisand and talking about Stardust. And although both of things will remain true, I will also be talking about transgender rights; non-binary humans, my marriage to a Cis woman, being mixed race, 62 and living with HIV. I will continue to talk about being an ex sex-worker and living in recovery from heroin, opiates, booze, and cocaine. I will talk about being both an artist and a professor of acting at USC. I will talk about teaching young people which I have done for over four decades.
I will talk about playing sports with cisgender women. I will talk about going into women’s public locker rooms and changing clothes. And I will talk about using women’s public restrooms since 1989, and never once thinking about attacking anyone.
And then, I will remind the cult that it is never us who brings up genitalia. It is them.
And above all, I will talk about the transgender youth and their need for Trans healthcare and for them to be lifted up seen and honored.
I believe these humans are lost. As if someone had pushed them all collectively down a spiral staircase and they can’t seem to find their way out.
And if they think my Transness is “too much”, that what I am has been shoved in their face long enough, and that my community needs to go back into the closet, they ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

This is how you stand up to bullies. Even if you lose one battle, the war for equality can still be won.

Bullies be damned.

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