Dalrymple writes in The American Conservative about rescuing a small bird from a parasitic tick in his garden, and from this episode draws a broader meditation on natural and man-made ugliness. He argues that while nature produces both beauty and repulsiveness indifferently, modern Western culture has developed a peculiar attraction to deliberate ugliness, from rap music to the architecture of Frank Gehry.
For some reason, our art finds it difficult to express tenderness towards the world, despite the fact that we are in many respects the most fortunate people who have ever lived. It is as if our world contained only ticks and no birds.