> Why do you make this out like it's some major thing to have someone ask, and then decline
Notice how in China, which has its shit together and is gradually outpacing the West, no one is asking others if they could avoid using a common term that makes them, individually, uncomfortable. That is one reason your behaviour seems a "major thing": it shows from your part a disrespect of social harmony, which is an important thing for a productive society.
Yeah, there are no efforts to curtail freedom of speech and get people to obsessively self-police in China.
The China which has its shit together? Which China is that? :-D
China is outpacing the West but it's not all on the good metrics.
Today I read this news story: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv62yg0erp8zo
They are doing damnatio memoriae on a footballer (who plays for Real Madrid), canceling his branded products, no longer mentioning him in news stories, and saying he should stay out of China, because he indirectly implied that Mao was a dictator.
So, OK, that's a kind of social harmony: they're very unified in telling you what you mustn't even suggest.