Why do people fear words?

Tesco have been forced to apologise for selling a 'Psycho Killer' costume which has been deemed offensive, is that not a bit pathetic? You would have to be pychotic to be offended that easily. If, like many people do, you suffer from some form of mental illness, this Halloween outfit is not taking a swipe at your condition, if you think it is then maybe you are arrogant and self-centred, or simply one of these pedantic people who finds trivial issues like this more important than real topics such as poverty, politics or the simple fact we are a country that tends to look down on the poor rather than help them? Are any of these same people offended by the title Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece? If so they may be missing out on an excellent piece of cinema through no one else's fault but their own.

Personally I believe that the meaning of language is completely down to its context, so why do people decide that the words themselves cause harm? If Barack Obama said an expletive on daytime television there would be a mass public outrcry, wheras if he ordered a small task such as the bombing of a small nation that would dwindle in comparison, an interesting scenario to sum up societies priorities.

When you see the word f*** you read it as the word fuck, so why do bother doing that? If someone can't crack that complex code they use there then I assure you that their issues are far greater than some four-letter words.

People with kids often seem to believe that swear words  will harm their children, yet proceed to pollute the family homes with ciggarette fumes whilst filling their little brats up with almost toxic processed food washed down with fizzy drinks that make moonshine seem like some form of health drink. I'd like to tell them parents right now, if your child finds a swear word offensive, it is because you taught them to think that way.

A case of someone using societies apparant weakness for these 'curse' words to their advantage was Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal. Nixon released several large official documents relating to the case with the phrase 'expletive deleted' scattered throughout, which could have been hiding anything. These documents weren't being handed to primary school pupils or a church choir! Fully grown adults, interested in the biggest presidential scandal of all time, would not, or at least should not, be offended by mere swear words ,but rather by being patronised in such a ludicrous way.