Another thought, and yes, I am going full Godwin here, because I think it's an important intellectual leap to make: In many European countries, using Nazi symbols such as the swastika is a criminal offence, so you can't use the symbol in games, in advertising or as a bumper sticker. However, it is not a criminal offence to show the symbol in a history class; to display it in a museum; to show it in a PowerPoint presentation during a lecture on WWII at university, to print it in a newspaper showing a defaced building etc. It is, above all, not a crime to say "Hitler" or "swastika" out loud. There is no "He said the H word". Even though these are arguably the most universal signs of hate and murder, you are allowed to discuss them. "Lest we forget", I believe is the saying often used with this rationale: If you prohibited anybody from ever talking about it or mentioning it, it would be forgotten after one generation at the latest, and with it all the important lessons learned from that terrible period of human history.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" in Harry Potter is another example of a rhetorical device used to instill bloodcurdling fear and larger-than-life authority of a a Wizard-of-Oz-style villain. Note that this is a children's book. Every adult person should be able to see through that.

And so - I am sure, there are many other examples - I ask again: Why do such things keep happening? Why, when individuals are clearly able of rational thought, as the editor's initial reaction shows, does there seem to be a hive-mind or "invisible hand of the market", or whatever you call it, that seems to get large groups of people to come together and stone someone for saying "Jehova" because his wife's cooking was so excellent.

I ask this sincerely, even though I use comedic examples. For me, this is an existential question of one's own sanity, that I struggle to comprehend what really is going on here, and I would love to hear what others think about this.

Could a possible answer be, and I realize I might be getting controversial here, could it be that modern American society, lacking a nuanced way of looking at difficult historic matters - because it always seems to be either "Free Speech" or "Death" with no middle way - has chosen this visceral reaction because it never learned to deal with or discuss its history in a non-confrontational, level-headed manner? Clearly, using $badword in normal everyday conversation is unacceptable. So it follows from there - using this logic framework - that any use whatsoever is unacceptable? Just spitballing here, looking for answers. Could very well be that I am wrong. If so, please don't downvote me but instead explain. Thank you.