I very much appreciate your sensible pragmatism, though I still fall on the other side of the argument. You make very good, very true points about how the world works today.

In my eyes, the way to change it is not to rely upon compromising with the archaic norms of “polite society” so as to avoid rocking the boat. It’s for those who gain influence and credibility (especially as a result of unseen privileges) to radically undermine these notions. And I do see it happening around us, slowly but surely.

An interesting wormhole that I won’t even get into arises here though —are we shifting towards new linguistic norms (in North America) wherein gross-out and emotional swearing is kosher, but identity related terminology is carefully policed? Just as you do here, on that issue I find myself in a gray area…