When I worked at the Boston Globe, a press release came across my desk from the Dept. of the Interior. It was about the government rounding up wild horses and “controlling the population.”

When I wrote that story, I wrote that they'd be killing the horses.

Because that is what they were doing.

The government was furious at my choice of verb. They sued the paper. They said killed was the wrong word. They wanted the paper to use their phrase: control the population.

My editors wanted me to apologize.

I did not.

I told them I had used the only accurate verb from the point of view of the horses.

This is why I love Substack.

I can write from the horse's point of vieandor the child's, or any other powerless being in the face of cruelty, and no editor or legal team will try to convince me to play nicer with the brutal powerful by using less accurate words.