People like people who are like them [1]. The word for this is homophily. It's very basic to psychology and it is easy to see how we evolved this way. It's a su

People like people who are like them [1]. The word for this is homophily. It's very basic to psychology and it is easy to see how we evolved this way. It's a survival mechanism: 'This like me, this good.' Advertisers use this aspect of human nature extensively. We unconsciously seek the familiar and feel more comfortable with it. It doesn't matter whether it is shared interests in knitting, hobbies, common values or background, or even something superficial like skin or hair color. We can fight against homophily, but I don't think we can ever get rid of it. It's part of our apparatus. What we are doing now in the West is unprecedented in humanity. The world wars of the 20th century were so horrific that we decided that the only way forward is to stamp out homophily, most recently by labeling a lot of it as racism or xenophobia. I want to be optimistic that we will end up in a good place but I have my doubts. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophily https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophily