[CJefferson]

Your bringing up the "golden rule" is interesting, as I there are various situations where i have felt discriminated against and in retrospect the golden rule was to blame.

If I'm in a room full of (in my case) people much posher than me, and they all treat everyone in the room as they wish to be treated, that can easily create an oppressive atmosphere. Also, if I try treating them as I wish to be treated, and can easily be seen as a troublemaker.

Now I try to treat people as they wish to be treated (within reason).

[beaconstudios]

I think that's partly because the golden rule is a moral rule, not a communication one. It describes a mindset that promotes empathy, but doesn't make affordances for communication differences such as social/economic status, culture and so on.