As I've said before, it is easy for people who are not being affected by certain words or phrases to be very relaxed about their use. "GrannyTwice* has stated that she would object to being called a "cripple". Surely, it is her right to say to someone, whatever their age, that she would prefer not to be described in such a way?
Not everybody feels "safe" enough to challenge language that they find hurtful or demeaning and so I feel a decent society should examine these issues and discourage language that stereotypes, insults or belittles specific groups of people.
petallus If by a "backlash" you mean that those who can no longer go to a football match and shout racist comments at players are angry at their loss of "freedom of speech" you may well be right. But "political correctness" didn't cause racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. etc. - it was a response to it.
Mamacaz You say "Even on this site I've seen the word bigot used to describe people who argue that things have gone too far". I've looked through this thread and have not seen any contributor described as a bigot and I don't recall seeing that word used anywhere else in relation to a Gransnetter.