Well, Mrs. Clinton has made a weasely apology, so she is just another hack

pol after all. I can’t repress a slight frisson of excitement, though, at

that momentary revelation that there might, after all, be something human

beneath that icily controlled exterior and those pop-eyed (no reference to

recent columns intended) effusions of bogus affability.

More than anything, though, this little incident illustrates the depths of

dishonesty and unreality to which we have been dragged by the taboo on

mention of any kind of group differences at all, even the most voluntary and

innocuous ones. It is a simple, easily observed fact, that in the New York

area, disproportionately many diners are run by Greek immigrants and their

families, disproportionately many barbers are of Italian origin, and so on.

I used to have to interview computer programmers for a Wall Street firm. I

interviewed hundreds of applicants for these jobs through the 1980s and

1990s. They broke down roughly as: 30 per cent East Asian (Chinese and

Korean), 30 per cent subcontinental Asian (Indian and Pakistani), 30 per

cent Russian Jews, 10 per cent Other. Why is it unacceptable–let alone

“incredibly hurtful”–to mention such simple, easily-observed facts about

our society, even in levity?