Euphemism and metaphor

[Graham Douglas]

Dear David Birch,
                             Your response to Zouhair's epigraph troubles
me. First  because you ignore the letter itself, and secondly because you
seem to judge a cultural product from another epoch by current standards.
History right down to the present century presents us with many
opportunities for such moral condescension, but are we really sure that we
finally have the best answer ? the ultimate distillation of everything that
went before ? All  totalitarian thinkers had this certainty, but do we want
to claim it ?
                When you use the phrase ' ancient sexist Arabic' you seem to
imply that we can judge an ancient product as sexist, even though the
category did not exist at that time.  More disturbing is the thought that
you may be understood to be using 'sexist' as an epithet for all things
Arabic, of which this happens to be an ancient example: the word order
suggests this.  If so I would have to ask how Zouhair's categories might
apply to a man in terms of racism, rather than ignorance. One who is racist
but is not aware of it ?
                    Yours truly,
                            Graham Douglas.