I started out talking about Razib Khan, who immigrated with his family from Bangladesh. Then I ranted about the folly of permitting mass Muslim immigration. So — should we have let Razib in? Now that he's in, should we expel him?

Here's where the particular collides with the general. It happens a lot.

It happens with blacks, for example. I talk and write a lot about the wrong-headedness, the scientific illiteracy of pretending that there are no statistical differences between the continental races in behavior, intelligence, and personality. Of course there are. If you deny that, you just end up with bad, dumb social policies and masses of wasted public money from trying to, for example, close racial gaps in academic achievement, or get more black policemen and firefighters by lowering entry standards to those professions.

So, people ask me, what about so-and-so (naming some smart, capable, socially useful black person)? Are you down on him, too?

Of course not. I'm not down on anybody. Of course I know there are smart, capable, decent blacks. Who doesn't know it? I had dinner with one a couple of weeks ago. I just think reality is better than fantasy and truth is better than lies; and if you base social policy on fantasy and lies, nothing good will come of it. That's all.

Same with immigration. It's about numbers. Would I care if we let 1,000 Mexicans settle in the U.S.A. every year, after being properly vetted? No, I wouldn't care at all. A thousand Nigerians? A thousand Muslims? A thousand Chinese? Same answer. With numbers at that level, we could do proper background checking before issuing visas, and in-country supervision once people got here, without compromising the freedom of our citizens. No problem.

But — One point six million Muslims? Three and a half million Chinese? Thirty-five million Mexicans? These numbers are beyond anything we can properly vet, manage, or supervise.

I say again: It's a question of how you salt your stew. It's numbers, numbers.

Do I want to expel Razib back to Bangladesh? No: but I do want to stop further Muslim immigration, and indeed mass immigration altogether. With sane policies and a bit of luck, we might be able to absorb the numbers we've already got, but to go on importing people at the current rate is lunacy. If we can't absorb any particular group, we can do what the Israelis do and bribe them to leave — buy out their citizenship if necessary.