[hifromwork]

Hi! I'm not from the US so I probably miss the cultural context. Are the words you listed considered offensive? With exception of maybe "xe", this seems more like a list of controversial topics, not words, which is a completely different thing. If I understood you correctly, I don't think it's relevant in context of the article posted.

[bastloing]

They're worse than swear words in the United states, triggering people on the right and the left. Just look at the down votes. 50 years ago they would be considered harmless.

[Zak]

What distinguishes these from profanity is that the use of the words or phrases themselves are not taboo; promoting the ideas they represent may upset people, but neutral uses of the phrases do not.

As other commenters note, words like "shit" and "fuck" used to be much more taboo than they are now, while certain slurs have recently gained taboo status to the point that many people in the comments are referencing them without actually typing them in their comments.

[ropejumper]

The downvotes aren't because people are triggered, they're because people think that what you said is kind of stupid.

[biorach]

Yes, it's just controversial topics. And yes, you're missing the cultural context. Which probably isn't worth your while learning about.