Why you are made to think CFLs look OK:

You can cruise the web today and find sites that compare the light output of a CFL to that of an incandescent bulb, measured with very sensitive and noble equipment, always coming to the conclusion that the CFL puts out more light and less heat than the incandescent bulb, and consumes less power to boot! They will even claim a higher color temperature, implying that the CFL produces light that better approaches sunlight. -A compelling argument that makes you wonder why such a wonderful thing could make everything look so horrible.

I suggest that the magician behind the curtain doesn't want you to know why these things are so ugly... In fact, he wants you to believe that CFLs are better than incandescents without objection, so just stop believing that they are any different, but better instead!

The devil is in the details: Incandescent lamps are true 'blackbody radiators', much the same as the sun, while those little curled up tubes are essentially fluorescent lights. A blackbody radiator is simply a hot object, which emits a smooth spectrum of light. The higher the temperature of the emitting body, the brighter the light and the bluer the color. Low temperature objects around us emit infrared and no measureable visible light, but at perhaps 600°C the light given off is deep red. The filament of a light bulb runs at about 2500°C and is of course, much brighter, including colors up through blue. However, the spectrum of the bulb is smooth and continuous, perhaps a bit brighter in the yellow and less in the red and blue, but all visible colors are represented. Light from the sun is also smooth and continuous, and due to the higher temperature of the sun, its light leans more toward the blue. The keywords here are smooth and continuous, light that we have evolved to see things most accurately with. The problem with CFLs is the spectrum of their light is NOT smooth and continuous.

This is not advertised though, especially in a world marching toward government control of our lives, while bureaucrats stand at the ready with their well-intentioned 'hammers'.