2/
..."fend for yourself" if looked at a different way is taking power into your own hands.
Personally, there are words that trigger me. People use them all the time. If I were to try to block them all, I would drive myself crazy and my experience here would... yeah I'd leave.
The best tool Masto has is the filter. You don't have to block people, assholes, playing whack-a-mole, you filter out their toots... 2/