Wyoming, United States, 1954. Photo by Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos

"Looking back over the past century, the historical moments when tact emerged as an ideal on the horizon of sociability were times when life had been cheapened; when humanity was threatened by war, pernicious ideologies, or violence in the bloody aftermath of revolutions. When the mind refuses to grasp the magnitude of a death toll, the idea of cherishing a sensitivity to human individuality feels so distant as to look like an escapist fantasy. Yet, it is precisely its remoteness – the danger of its falling into oblivion – that demands its eloquent affirmation."

Article: On Tact in Dark Times