> If we can avoid terminology that is painful for others, why shouldn't we?
Because other people's feelings shouldn't be treated as important as they have (relatively recently) been elevated to be, particularly in the very dysfunctional and broken US culture.
Ideally we start stinging the soft US culture with a lot more political incorrectness. It's not a benefit for society to be so weak on such trivial matters as offensive terminology. Which is exactly what will follow this era of political correctness: inevitably the pendulum will swing back the other direction. We're due for an aggressive era of rebellion against the censorship and political correctness brigades.
Because other people's feelings shouldn't be treated as important as they have (relatively recently) been elevated to be, particularly in the very dysfunctional and broken US culture.
Ideally we start stinging the soft US culture with a lot more political incorrectness. It's not a benefit for society to be so weak on such trivial matters as offensive terminology. Which is exactly what will follow this era of political correctness: inevitably the pendulum will swing back the other direction. We're due for an aggressive era of rebellion against the censorship and political correctness brigades.