I don't agree that it's more obvious you are olive when you're lighter... it isn't that obvious to me, which is why I am here to learn. I think it can be very difficult for everyone due to misinformation out there about undertones. There are also a lot of factors that can confuse things for each individual regardless of depth of skintone (for example surface redness in the skin).

To answer your question about why people sometimes emphasize they are pale. When I was growing up I fell into believing I was too pale for foundation because I didn't know anything about undertones. I only had access to drugstore where I could not swatch/return, and every foundation I tried (what I thought was the lighest shade in all collections available to me) stood out very obviously against my skin. Now I know that was because they were the wrong undertone, not too dark, but back then I assumed they were just too dark.

I had to learn color theory from somewhere, that isn't something you just gain from natural intuition and I wasted a good bit of money and gave up on foundation for almost a decade before I had enough disposable income to try again and really figure it out.

Undertones aren't really widely understood outside of beauty and art school (at least here in the US). There's a lot of misinformation on the internet and despite a lot of great sources it just... not always easy.

So for me it had nothing to do with racial superiority. I didn't think mentioning your are pale is any different than mentioning you are a medium skintone?