Orwell, one of the most prolific and powerful anti-tyrannical writers of the 20th century, said that a good writer will ask themselves, every time they publish, if they have said anything unavoidably ugly.
This coming from the author of 1984 and Animal Farm, two of the most effective exposés on communism ever written. But look at the news and books written now. Full of ugly, blaming, hateful words.
It makes me scared for the future, as people are pulled further apart by writers, journalists and columnists who, for whatever intentions, describe in vivid ugly detail how much we differ and how irreconcilable those differences are.
When you see ugly ways to describe something that could otherwise be written in a non-ugly way, question whether the writer is choosing to make something normal more ugly, to convince, manipulate or get more clicks or a stronger outrage reaction.