[theapportioner]

it's also wrong to look down on someone who makes a conscious choice to differentiate themself by that culture.

The choice itself, I am indifferent to. Call yourself Russian or Buddhist or Punk or Socialist or Raelian. Whatever. What people often tether to the choice, indeed what makes it more than just calling yourself by that name -- the values associated with it, the relative distinctions, the rationale, the tendency to exclude those who choose otherwise, is fair game. Some elements may be praised, and others scorned. And the person who chooses, similarly judged, depending on what he identifies with, and what he doesn't.

See, they are not just labels, they are identifications.