A surprising proportion of the European populace really does think something like genetics, or maybe the slightly fuzzier &quot;ethnicity&quot;, is at the core of the issue. Many people really think that they belong to a specific ethnicity that has existed in roughly its current form for hundreds or thousands of years, and that this is the glue holding together their nation-state and the reason for its success. That Europe&#x27;s current ethnicities are the product of melting pots that emerged from waves of migration and intermingling and assimilation, is a common view among academics, but not so much the average person. I&#x27;ve had reasonably educated people specifically tell me that this is the thing Americans don&#x27;t understand about Europe: that the American identity was created in the last 200 years from people of many backgrounds, while the European ethnic identities are 2000 years old and not the products of melting pots. Which is not really exactly right, but it&#x27;s what many Europeans think. This is even true in Greece (I&#x27;m Greek-American), which is historically maybe one of the world&#x27;s most &quot;melting-pot&quot; oriented ethnicities, almost evangelical in its desire to Hellenize people of any background.