Freedom of speech and 'the right to offend'.

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Well for example, whoever made that FB page might find themselves with a smaller friends list due to friends taking offense and removing him/her as friend. Loss of respect from people offline as news of the page makes it through the grapevine. Potential employers doing background checks via FB and stumbling upon the page. If they're already a representative of a corporation they might find less people employing their services (bad publicity).

If you do anything offensive or upsetting in a social environment the general result will be negative judgement in some form or other.

Should people be threatened with violence or worse for "offence"? Should TV stations be bullied into not showing programmes due to this "offence"?

No, and nowhere was I implying either of those.

Good.

I actually agree with you that people who act the idiot should see the consequences of their actions. Personal responsibility is a good thing IMO. It's also why I believe in a more-or-less free market - let people make their own choices and decisions about life, who they want to trade with, and what they say and so on. Whilst I agree with people's right to say more or less what they want, people maliciously using the legal system or using or threatneing violence or intimidation should never be allowed to threaten free speech. Free speech needs to be protected at all costs because without it, we are on the road to totalitarianism - whether religious totalitarianism or ultranationalist, racist totalitarianism or communist totalitarianism or whatever else.

I agree that people shouldn't be deliberately offensive, but I also support people's right to freely express themselves. Some people have trouble reading about others' personal struggles, so in the same light someone might complain about a cancer patient support page. (I write this as someone who lost my mom to cancer a few years ago.)

I'm offended by censorship.

Facebook (I don't like FB btw, have deactivated my account) is privately owned, therefore they have no requirement to allow anything. So I would say their choice to leave the page up is simply a sign that they want everyone to feel free to post what they wish and not be censored. While I don't like some of their other business practices, I applaud their lack of censorship.

What I question is why people do what they do.

Why do people post offensive jokes about cancer? Obviously this is a sign of lack of compassion. But I once knew some ambulance drivers who joked about things that happened in their work as a way of letting off steam. They were compassionate people who did what they did because they wanted to do good. But there is such a thing as compassion fatigue. There has to be a release valve, and joking was theirs.

OTOH, why would anyone who is offended by the page in question read it or visit the page to begin with and give the page any more attention than a cursory glance to see what it's about? Just don't visit the page. If you have friends who keep sharing its posts or directing your attention to it, tell them to stop, and if they don't, remove them.

Finally, why would either group feel a need to rely on Facebook to do their decision making for them?

I couldn't find this Simpsons clip on YouTube so I'll describe it but it'll be great if somone can find the clip.
The set up is Homer is on Kent Brockman's show & he's being an idiot & spills coffee on Kent's lap. Kent gets upset & swears. Ned Fladers is watching it with his children & then he gets upset over the word & goes online

Rod: (to Ned)~ Daddy, what are you doing?
Ned:~ Imploring people I never met to pressure a government with better things to do to punish a man who meant no harm for something nobody ever saw, that's what I'm doing!
Rod: (after exchanging a worried look with Tod)~ Daddy, we think you need a new mommy.
Ned:~ First things first!