The only thing this code of conduct does beside state the obvious (behave like adults) is the implied distrust expressed by introducing it in the first place: that without being nannied into proper behaviour, we would all act like vile animals.
Generally I find such nannying deeply offensive.
And what if I did? Learning to ignore things that could unreasonably sour your mood is a valuable skill in life anyway. Life itself doesn't really have a code like proposed.
De-escalated depending on the context of the situation.
Code of Conduct defines problems and could turn anything funny, innocent, etc. into an excuse to ruin someone's life.
9/10 times it's someone who doesn't program (an Adria Richards, Shanley Kane) who will be attacking someone who actually contributes.
The people causing the social outrage debacles, often can't program. They're complete outsiders who think they can use social ideas and useful idiots as a vehicle for their own benefit.
Many QAers and PM's can or have programmed some, at one point, or else they wouldn't understand the domain of the problem.
Most of the trouble crowd tend to be social marketers and so-called "evangelists" on twitter.
They're not programmers.
These people leading the vanguard of your code of conduct movements - they're not even really tech. They're happy when you invent these new job positions to give them a paycheck.
There are so many things that can be done to contribute to a project, that don't involve writing a single line of code. Testing, evangelism, documentation, support, etc, etc.
Why should attempting to improve the culture of a project, be any different?
Is it possible that you're a part of the class that, yes, doesn't experience the negative aspects of the community, and thus has no empathy for those that do? Ah, but yes, "that's life, suck it up" - right? Stiff upper lip, don't be a whiner, I didn't need empathy to get where I am, and so on and so forth.
While that may always be good advice to follow, personally I find that attitude an excuse to be callous and lazy. Actually taking the time to understand other people and their issues, truly trying to get outside of your own biases and experiences and put yourself in their shoes, is more impressive to me.
It's offensive, to a woman, to ask for some man's permission to talk to her.
Both of these are true. Both of these are false. In order to know what's offensive for any given group, a written summary is extremely helpful. Posit a group of people brought together from around the world from many varied cultures. They have no way to know what is, and is not, acceptable behaviour. Insisting that people just "behave like adults" is no help at all when different societies can have wildly different views of the correct behaviour of adults, and you also get the effect that each of them believes they are behaving like an adult and it's the other people who are wrong. It's a recipe for disaster.
Edit: you edited that comment from a single line since I posted this.
To elaborate:
I think that codes of conduct can be very very useful, especially in resolving disputes or setting community standards. I don't think it's driven out of distrust. High profile harassment on GitHub is not good for GitHub, or the open source community as a whole.
It would make sense if github did this in response to persistent issues with the community, but by doing it pre-emptively it seems like they have ambitions to become some kind of worldwide coordinator.
What about my feelings? No one's going to care because I'm white and conservative.