Oh, I don't need to re-read it; I know what you mean. That's exactly what I thought while I was writing it. On the surface, it appears that the orange people are reverenced just for being orange, with no other difference between them and the green people who are expected to serve them. It is unfair to the green people, isn't it?

But then we look at the thinking behind the behavior. It is assumed that the orange people are flimsy inside and out, and cannot do certain things for themselves. Therefore the stronger green people must stoop to doing those things for the orange people. The flip side is that the orange people are limited in their freedom. They don't have access to certain jobs it is assumed (without testing) that they cannot do. They are denied a role in government because they are presumed to be too unstable to manage the position well. The orange people who fight this, instead of accepting it, are insulted and accused of having green envy. Artificial rules of etiquette are put in place. "An orange person should never curse, show anger or aggression, etc. It's unorangelike." In extreme cases, they are considered the property of the green person who takes care of them, they are expected to be obedient, and are subjected to physical punishment if they make a mistake. With this bigger picture, the little compensations like orange people standing up when a green person enters the room don't seem to balance out.

By the way, AkAngel, I forgot to thank you in detail for your observations about the joke at the other site. I liked your retort about the laundry. It's brilliant. I understand about the defensiveness now.

Which leads to something I considered ignoring but decided to address.

Trance.... it can be fun to poke at the beehive sometimes, can't it? I can react several ways. I can point out that nobody here was putting men down, so to come on with a disparaging remark about female traits was a deliberate act of aggression. (The response would probably be, "Chill, lady, I was only joking. Jeez. Women don't have a sense of humor.") I can say that you're perfectly welcome not to read the thread if it bothers you. I can do what thunderbear did--just laugh and move on. I can run crying to a mod and say that you're baiting me, which I assure you I'm not going to do. I can do exactly what I'm doing--rambling on and proving your point. But what I want to say is that some of us are enjoying talking this issue to death. You may certainly join in if you want to, or not.