http://www.bmezine.com/news/pubring/20030708.html
Here is one paragraph which, though not my main point, is worth considering:
(bold characters mine.)We have to ask ourselves which kind of culture we'd rather live in: are you defined as a member of a group (black, American, Russian, white, Christian, whatever) or are you defined as an individual, with your groupare you defin allegiances being secondary? That is, are you defined by your similarities with your compatriots, or your differences?
Logically, I fail to see how an individual can be defined by anything but the differences.