Quote Originally Posted by Singu View Post
That may be true, but it's not as if there are no in-fighting and conflicts among people of the same race and ethnicities. People who look similar may stick together, people of similar socio-economic background stick together, people of similar education, religion and even political affiliations do.

Race and ethnicities are just one of those many imagined in-group similarities. People may be biased towards people that are similar or even just perceived as similar, because perhaps they are perceived to be safe. But that is still a cognitive and behavioral bias and an error.

The fact is that people of the same race and ethnicity used to fight and kill each other all the time (and they still do), but now they suddenly get along. Why is that? It's because people have found newer ideas to be inclusive about. That is the idea of a nation-state.
I believe it is a combination of both. Real and imagined differences between races and ethnicities. Imagined differences tend to exaggerate the real differences and make the division worse, but there is still some minor differences regardless. I suppose that the cause is humanity's tribal nature that manifests even in politics.

Anyways, I don't really mind if certain countries become multi-ethnic melting pots, while others become ethno-states. I just find it bothersome that the choice is literally just multiculturalism for 1st world nations and any other option is seen as xenophobic. Without any consideration of the potential long-term consequences.