As an adult, I’ve seen what happens when rhetoric hardens into organization and real-world violence. But let’s be clear — that is not what happened to Charlie Kirk.

There is no link between what happened to Kirk and “antifa” or BLM or whatever the current administration has labeled as the enemy. The narrative being spun is not based in truth, and President Trump’s move to weaponize the term “terrorism” to describe political dissidents is straight from the authoritarian and fascist playbook.

I came of age and started forming real political opinions in high school, around 2010, a period ripe with racist, violent rhetoric.

The issue of the casual cruelty of calling for violence against others is an ongoing, unacceptable American problem that threatens our democracy. Yet, despite the ongoing normalization of violence, there has not been a state-sponsored effort to censor the media.  

Public health measures are not censorship. Alerting employers about vile posts in the wake of Kirk’s murder is not either. 

Using a government entity to pressure the cancellation of a program over a joke that was in slightly bad taste is a violation of the First Amendment. Weaponizing the definition of terrorism to silence dissidence? Clear censorship. 

Naming fascism may put a target on my back, but I will not stop telling the truth about our descent into an unrecognizable America. 

Jonny Bolduc
Lewiston