Crusade against profanity

What is this addiction to profanity that has taken over the world? Song lyrics mention the unmentionables, actresses are clamouring for roles where they can swear to their hearts' content and kids start and end their sentences with the F-word. Even my maid who has only studied till the 4th standard says "Oh S***"... yes, in English and LOL has been replaced with LMAO.
One might argue that these are just words like any words and the dictionary meaning probably just makes them more popular. So if you happen to just invent a word and attach an obnoxious meaning to it, it will become extremely popular.
I for one, cannot help my ears going red when I hear profanity. It actually produces an extreme physical reaction in me. Embarrassment and anger at the speaker for subjecting me to it. And most of the times the person doesn't even realise that he/she has said it.
There was this young male colleague who was in the habit of using the f-word to describe everything. One day, a very senior lady from my organisation, this colleague and me were travelling to a campus interview. On the way there the three of us shared a car. The young man was so delighted by the company that he began a long speech about his experience in campus recruitment and so on. Invariably the f-word crept up and kept showing up in every other sentence. My senior colleague and me went red in the face, but the young man didn't notice. Finally I interrupted him and requested him to watch his language and if he can't then keep quiet on the campus recruitment drive. He was genuinely surprised and apologised profusely saying that using the word had become such a habit since his college days that he used it sub-consciously.

I refuse to believe that argument. If you want you can use different words instead of a bad one. Read and educate yourselves in vocabulary and don't restrict your speech to a few bad words. This is a sincere request.