I take the opposing view.
Words have meaning and power attached to them based on their common use and asking people to forget that history is ridiculous. The people who are offended by language are not the ones keeping it alive, people who use offensive language to be offensive are the ones keeping it alive by continuing the tradition of attaching a meaning to a word.
I believe that people should be able to joke with each other and discuss issues without being told they are being politically incorrect. But I also believe that they should be able to do this respectfully, and intentionally using inflammatory language and then blaming the fact that people feel insulted on them is pretty bizarre. If people yell or speak rudely to me I get angry, as do the people I've yelled at and been rude to. I do not blame the people I'm yelling at for getting upset at me yelling at them, in fact, that was my intention.
Whenever you speak you assert that you understand both the technical and the cultural meaning of a phrase and are willing to accept the consequences and stand by what you said. When people say "Well it's your fault for being offended, political correctness is killing America," I hear "I cannot accept responsibility for what I have to say."
