LILLEY: Stop calling people Nazi or fascist because you don't like their politics
- Tony Lam
- Sep 13
- 3 min read
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Published Sep 12, 2025 • Last updated 8 hours ago • 3 minute read
A general view of a wreath laid by mourners outside the US Embassy in Pretoria on September 11, 2025 following the fatal shooting of US youth activist and influencer Charlie Kirk while speaking during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, United States. US youth activist and influencer Charlie Kirk, a major ally of President Donald Trump, was shot on September 10, 2025 at a US university. Kirk was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University when the attack happened. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)
Stop calling people you disagree with politically Nazis and fascists.
Charlie Kirk was assassinated after years of political opponents falsely hurling those terms at him.
He was shot and killed allegedly by Tyler Robinson, who saw himself as an anti-fascist hunter.
“Hey fascist! Catch!” said the engraving on one of the shell-casings police recovered.
“I think that that speaks for itself,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox told reporters.
On another shell-casing, the words “Bella Ciao,” the title of an anti-fascist Italian fight song, were engraved. According to authorities, Robinson was allegedly obsessed with Kirk and filled with rage in opposition to his views.
For years, we’ve been told by the so-called progressive left that words are violence. Here we have actual violence carried out by a young man radicalized to believe that someone he disagreed with politically had to be killed in order to stop him.
“Shooting is honestly too good for so many of you fascist c—-,” Dr. Ruth Marshall posted on X in response to Kirk’s shooting.
Marshall is an associate professor in the religion department at the University of Toronto. Days before Kirk’s shooting, in another of her now blocked X posts, she called Postmedia — my employer and the owner of the Toronto Sun — a fascist organization.
How should I or any of my colleagues take Dr. Marshall’s words? She has clearly said shooting is too good for fascists and that Postmedia is a fascist organization, which logically would mean that those of us working for the company should be shot, or worse.
Officials at U of T have placed Dr. Marshall on leave. She should be fired and then monitored by police. She has actively encouraged violence against those whom she opposes politically.
Alan Bass, a journalism professor who retired from Thompson River University in 2016, objected to a social media post saying there was no place for violence in politics, by saying it is sometimes necessary to kill evil people, which in these circumstances would appear to say that Kirk deserved what he got.
This is unacceptable rhetoric coming from supposed leaders in our society — and they are not alone.
Will we see the violence aimed at Kirk come north because of this kind of language and incitement? It’s something that needs to be considered, especially by those of us repeatedly, and falsely, called Nazis and fascists.
It’s a near-daily occurrence for me to be called those names via email or social media. This week, I’ve been called a Nazi for a column calling for bridging political divides in the wake of Kirk’s shooting and for hosting a fireside chat with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. I’m also referred to as racist, xenophobic, homophobic, a white supremacist and a traitor to Canada, among other things.
None of those accusations are true, as anyone who actually knows me can attest, but the terms are thrown around with abandon, and now with incitement to violence.
We are in a dark place in this country. This isn’t something we can just claim is an American fault. We are in the mud with them.
Too many Canadians see their political opponent as their enemy, as an evil force to be defeated.
This isn’t good for the country, it is not good for our daily lives and, as we saw with Charlie Kirk this week, it leads to a very dark place.
It’s time for all of us, but especially those vilifying those whom they disagree with terms and names as vile as Nazi and fascist, to examine our souls and seek a better way.
It needs to stop.
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