Offensive Language/Çensorship

Why are words offensive??? I don't think we should be offended by any words because, like Mr. Perkins said, they're only consonants and letters. I don't think there's anything "morally wrong" with using "bad language"; however, I do believe that it is disrespectful depending on how sincere you are and who you are speaking to because of the TRADITION that makes the words offensive. My little sister used to sing the name game when she was younger, rhyming random words with "duck" or "sam", etc, screaming out obscenities in public places, totally unaware that she was delivering a drove of "bad words." We're TAUGHT that words are "bad", or in this case, disrespectful.  Words do not have any meaning by themselves; it is the context through the language as a whole, tradition, or association that gives them meaning.

Oh, and I completely agree with Kat. If the government told me not to say "I love you" or any other word, I'd say it at every opportunity I'd have to open my mouth. But to answer Mr. Perkin's question in the comment he left: for those who would still be scared to utter forbidden language, it would definitely make those three little words a lot more powerful. The reward for speaking out against the church when Roman Catholicism dominated Europe was death; obviously, the words "God isn't real" might have been pretttyyyyy powerful. Censorship could never be executed effectively, though. Some people just don't like the government telling them what to do, though--I guess I'm one of them.