Maybe the WordPress usage license should be amended to add the clause “WordPress must not be used to produce sites of an offensive nature.”

WordPress has quite a long history of enabling any and all kinds of publishing, including extremely disturbing ones and up to getting labeled "a terrorist tool".

That doesn't mean it needs to ship with questionably welcoming content out of the box. By any reasonable logic it should not.

If you find the plugin offensive, delete it. Take personal responsibility for your own site. Stay out of other people’s sites.

You are welcome to install the old version of plugin. This argument is completely reversible. You (and quite a few others here) use "don't tell me what to do" to tell others what to do. It's bizarre.

Get ready for the ‘No SJWs, No Snowflakes’ signs that the majority of us will soon display on our sites.

Oh, won't it be perfect if that was contained to your sites. Unfortunately this thread seems to be exemplary explanation that getting all bothered about such issues is way more interesting to such types than ignoring "trivial" issues (which they rage at others to ignore, yet somehow unable to ignore themselves).

This puritanism needs to stop. This right-think needs to stop. This I-know-what’s-best-for-everyone authoritarian crap needs to stop. Less moralising, more personal integrity, more respect for others, please.

It will not. For better and worse WordPress optimizes for popularity. Maximizing appeal and smoothing out rough edges is indelible part of that direction. That is the project's idea of integrity and respect. And it's nothing like your take on those.