Some time has past since I wrote an article about the misuses of social terms as a way to quickly sketch out an idea about how identifying into certain groups often morphs into a political issue; however this shouldn't be the case, as attaching any moral significance to ones group identity in a particular race or ethnicity paves the way toward conflict and lack of cooperation seen today—this is the root of collectivism as opposed to cosmopolitan individualism.
It's good to remind ourselves that individuals can either voluntarily or through birth be part of groups, tribes, hives, and other collectives, though the distinguishing parameters of labels are constantly fluid and are ultimately generalized observations based on often culturally relative, arbitrary characteristics. You might even take this understanding for granted and that's expected in everyday life, as it can be beneficial and convenient to make general statements about humanity which makes our thoughts about the social order simpler to arrange in our minds.
What's interesting about attributing moral meaning to those labeled as a race or ethnicity is that this might very well be the genesis of the nation-state as Wisniewski suggests. The old divide and conquer strategy is always the name of the game in politics and what better way than appealing to the lowest common denominator of social categories? Sorting different collectives by some hierarchy of moral values underscores the true nature of humanity and the social order, giving power to those who want different factions of people to fight each other so they can eventually rule over them.
In a laissez-faire market economy affiliations between individuals are created without the slightness concern over ones perceived group identity, what actually matters is what one can offer another through mutual exchange whether its relational, material, or intellectual. When Phoenician merchants traded along the Mediterranean and Atlantic, they counted on the natives attributing moral irrelevancy to their appearance while placing more importance on who they were and what they could provide. Aesthetics or in this case ones superficial appearance does play a role in the development of culture, but it's key to know what actually falls into that realm instead of something in the moral realm.
