Political Correctness.

Does anyone else prefer the world how it was before everything went Politically Correct?  Those days when you called a spade a spade, and everyone knew exactly what you meant.  Whose idea was it to change that?  How many people were actually offended by words that are now considered taboo?  It is not discrimination that causes offence, just pure ignorance.  Most people have the intellegence to know when someone is being disrespectful, or if they are simply just ignorant.  Life is complicated enough, without politicians with good intentions but small brains, trying to tell us what THEY think is right or wrong.  Why not let people decide for themselves?  If someone doesn't like what you call them, then they will tell you that.  What might sound offensive to one person, may seem acceptable to someone else, or vice versa.  In a world of free speech, when did we lose the right to think for ourselves?