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First of all, it is a scientific fact that people often have trouble distinguishing individuals from a foreign area from another. It has to do with the social conditioning. The senses only become fine tuned to the specific differences when one has regular contact. It is more or less the same in each direction. Asian people sometimes have difficulties telling Europeans apart.
I live in an area where there are very few africans (not USA), and the other day I saw an african get into an argument on a train. Later that day I was approached by another african in a store asking me whether he was in the right line. For a split second I wondered if it was the same guy. On the other hand, I have alot of contact with asians (I am causasian) and I could probably tell if someone is from China, Thailand, Corea or Japan just by looking at their face.
Still, the statement "they all look the same to me." can be viewed as offensive. This is especially true, when there actually are alot of individuals from the other race present.
It depends on the context, but the reason is that it often can mean something like "I don't care to deal with these people" or "they don't belong here".
If you are living in an area that is heavily populated with people from another race, and you cannot tell them apart, then that might indicate that you are either actively or passively isolating yourself from them.
As a side remark, I was astonished the other day when a lady from china described her countryfolks to me as yellow. Different people have different ideas of what political correctness means. I think it all boils down to the question of whether you can feel comfortable around people that are very different from you.
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