Richard Gere's Kiss: Protestors Outraged and Burning Effigies

  • Thread starter siddharth
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In summary: I'm not surprised that some people are offended by it.In summary, Richard Gere hugged and kissed Shetty on stage during an AIDS awareness event in India. This has offended some conservative groups, who staged protests. The NGO activist who filed a police complaint against the celebrities said that she was offended by the way Gere kissed her.
  • #1
siddharth
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Ok, I know this is the sensationalist type of news the media seems to thrive on, but it makes me frustrated and angry anyway.

During the AIDS awareness event on Sunday evening at the Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Richard Gere hugged Shetty, bent over her and planted several kisses on her cheeks.

The kissing episode has raised the hackles of several conservative groups, with protestors coming out on the streets and burning effigies of the actors. Protests were staged in Kanpur, Varanasi, Indore, Jaipur, Mumbai and Delhi.

...an NGO activist on Tuesday filed a police complaint against the celebrity duo.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1091467 [Broken]

Demonstrators in Mumbai (Bombay) set light to effigies of the Hollywood star, while protesters in other cities shouted "death to Shilpa Shetty".

The protesters said Gere insulted Indian culture by kissing the hand and face of the Bollywood actress.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6560371.stm

I really dislike all the nationalism and the "how dare you insult our culture :eek:? Die!" protests, and all the moral outrage that follows. Especially when they are from religious nationalistic groups, burning effigies and wasting everyone's time.

First it was http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=179456&Sn=WORL&IssueID=30028", and now this, all in the same month

I'm sick of people complaining that something hurt their sentiments (religious, cultural, whatever). Seriously, If you get worked up over a comment or action which goes against your belief, it's time you took a look at why you believe it.
 
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  • #2
Hmm, I hadn't heard of this one before. Doesn't surprise me though; I've noticed that there is a strong Hindu nationalist movement growing in India in the past few years...almost seems like the Indian version of the KKK. Unfortunately this nationalist movement also has negative implications for science. Have you heard of "Vedic science?" It's basically the Hindu version of creation "science," but with a racial supremacist twist. I kid you not: there are people in India who believe that the ancient Indians produced nuclear bombs, aircraft, and spacecraft , over one-hundred thousand years ago.

Looks to me like these incidents just might be symptoms of the religious and racial nationalist movement in India.
 
  • #3
arunma said:
Have you heard of "Vedic science?" It's basically the Hindu version of creation "science," but with a racial supremacist twist. I kid you not: there are people in India who believe that the ancient Indians produced nuclear bombs, aircraft, and spacecraft , over one-hundred thousand years ago.

Unfortunately, I've come across this Vedic (pseudo)science! My university invited some quack to speak on "Vedic Devolution".

Meera Nanda has a brilliant article which points out this specific problem
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/vedic_science_Mira.htm" [Broken]
 
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  • #4
siddharth said:
I'm sick of people complaining that something hurt their sentiments (religious, cultural, whatever). Seriously, If you get worked up over a comment or action which goes against your belief, it's time you took a look at why you believe it.

This is an extremely self-centred viewpoint.

Gere went over there as a guest, got up in front of millions of citizens and performed a highly offensive act with one of their most cherished celebrities, insulting the people and at the same time sullying her image. They might as well have had sex on the stage.

This is NOT simply a few fundamentalists getting their noses out of joint over a small faux pas. Public displays of touching or kissing to Eastern culture is worse than public displays sex to us - it is simply NOT for public consumption. They do not show kissing in their movies - ever. Watch a few. (BTW, Asian culture is the same.)

The Western equivalent might be for an actor to accept his Oscar nomination in front of the entire W. Hemisphere with a young Marlena Dietrich on one arm and a Swastika on the other.



Besides, you seem to grant yourself the right to complain about something that offends you personally. If 9,999,999 more people felt the same way you do, would that mean you should shut up about it?
 
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  • #5
Although Gere's assistants should have researched and informed him of proper etiquette, the reaction is blown out of proportion. They should realize that being a Westener, he might not be aware of all of their customs and realize that it was not done intentionally to insult anyone.
 
  • #6
This has actually been blown out of proportion by the news media, as Siddharth pointed out in the very first line. It's not something like a national protest going on. They do nothing but add fuel to the flame, making it a raging fire.

Dave, I'm sure Siddharth has watched more than a few Indian movies. :wink: But I should tell you that of late movie makers have become "bolder." But most, if not all of these movies are as bad as, or worse than B-grade movies - sort of extremely soft porn :biggrin:.
 
  • #7
I think it is a overreaction from the hindu groups.

It shouldn't be a given fact that every person that visits a country has to research every religion and/or culture associated with the country. Just as Richard Gere 'disrespected' and 'insulted' their cultural beliefs out of his lack of research, it should have been obvious to the Hindus that any westerner who visits their country doesn't know EVERYTHING about the country.
Why on Earth would the hindus think that he was intentionally trying to comprimise their beliefs? He came with good purpose, and yet the they still manage to make mockery out of him.

It's an act of extreme arrogance on part of the Hindus if anything else.
 
  • #8
arunma said:
Unfortunately this nationalist movement also has negative implications for science. Have you heard of "Vedic science?" It's basically the Hindu version of creation "science," but with a racial supremacist twist. I kid you not: there are people in India who believe that the ancient Indians produced nuclear bombs, aircraft, and spacecraft , over one-hundred thousand years ago.
QUOTE]

People in general do not believe that ancient Indians produced nuclear bombs etc, atleast I have never heard this sort of a claim. Yes, we did study in our history books that Shusutra knew plastic surgery in a very crude form and about Aryabhat and a few people.
"Aryabhata gives a table of the trigonometric sine function, calling them jya in Sanskrit. The table gives the sines of angles at intervals of 3°45'. The sine tables are needed to work out the geometrical measurements of positions of stars and planets on the celestial sphere. Thus we see that Aryabhata was conversant with the notions of spherical trigonometry. Moreover, at the conceptual level, his awareness of the spherical shape of the Earth and its spin around an axis reflect how advanced he was with respect to his contemporaries. For example, he argues in one verse of the Aryabhatiya that although the stars appear to go westwards, they are in fact fixed and we are observing them from the moving platform of the spinning Earth."

I would like to know which book claims that ancient indians made atom bombs.
 
  • #9
Dave said:
They might as well have had sex on the stage.
Yeah. Sure.

I'm with siddharth.

And in some cultures you need to do a lot of kissing. Italiano!
 
  • #10
Bladibla said:
I think it is a overreaction from the hindu groups.

There are certain groups, supposedly spreading Hinduism, who specialise in these activities. For absolutely no reason, they start protests, burn and destroy stuff. For example, there have been instances where they have dug-up cricket pitches prepared for India-Pakistan matches! :grumpy: But of course, they don't reflect the opinions of the majority of the population.
 
  • #11
This isn't a issue of hinduism or islam or any other religion. A Pakistani minister got fatwas for kissing some paragliding instructor while celebrating.
It's an issue of close-minded people hiding behind so called moral values/ religious values/ cultural values and what not.
Media shouldn't encourage them by giving them publicity. This was on front page of Times of India, why? I don't see this as a news item deserving front page treatment.
 
  • #12
I think this is a ludicrous overreaction and the press over there is sensationalizing it to get more ratigns for their respective media outlets.
Lets get one thing clear here first adn foremost the outrage should only be there if there was and I quote from one of siddharth's links "deliberate and malicious intention." in breaking the law or trying to insult their beliefs.
This is the one thing no one ever makes clear in these situations highlighted by siddharth. Was there deliberate and malicious intent to break the law and insult specific religious beliefs? Now of course no one is going to come out and say "yep I knew that and just wanted to piss off you folks" but please, I'm sure none of these people did this intentionally.
I have to agree with Evo on the idea that these peoples personal assistants should've done the research on the customs of the country they were into see what crossing the line is but I think burning these folsk in effigy and wanting them to die or in the case of the wedding to be prosecuted for breaking the law is a bit of an overreaction don't you?
If anything I think at the most a public apology could be made letting everyone know that there was no insult intended and next time they will make sure to defer to the customs of the country they are in.
 
  • #13
shramana said:
It's an issue of close-minded people

+ frustrated ones, I'd add.
 
  • #14
People in general do not believe that ancient Indians produced nuclear bombs etc, atleast I have never heard this sort of a claim.

Exactly, it's obvious the overwhelming majority of Indians and Hindus don't partake in those claims. Other than the very minute, but extremely virulent groups of Hindus, I hardly think anyone espouses such absurd views. Also, the comparisons of these groups to the KKK is far-fetched, to say the least. Yes, they protest in public regarding these 'romantic' borrowings from the West and grumble about a lot of things. But, you'll find that they are some of the most vocal supporters of Israel and America, which has a lot to do with their perception of Islam.

To emphasize Shramana's point, here is an excerpt about a recent (yesterday) incident in Pakistan:

The court passed a fatwa on Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar after she was pictured hugging a man following a paragliding flight.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6558501.stm?ls
 
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  • #15
DaveC426913 said:
This is an extremely self-centred viewpoint.

Gere went over there as a guest, got up in front of millions of citizens and performed a highly offensive act with one of their most cherished celebrities, insulting the people and at the same time sullying her image. They might as well have had sex on the stage.

This is NOT simply a few fundamentalists getting their noses out of joint over a small faux pas. Public displays of touching or kissing to Eastern culture is worse than public displays sex to us - it is simply NOT for public consumption. They do not show kissing in their movies - ever. Watch a few. (BTW, Asian culture is the same.)

The Western equivalent might be for an actor to accept his Oscar nomination in front of the entire W. Hemisphere with a young Marlena Dietrich on one arm and a Swastika on the other.

If you believe his viewpoint is ethnocentric, perhaps you might consider the perspective of someone who has some ties to Indian culture (i.e. me)?

It is true that Indian culture views sex in a way similar to Victorian-era England or even America just a couple generations ago. But it's a bit much to say that public displays of kissing are analogous to pbulic sex in America. Much like the Victorian era in the West, the Indian conservative views on sex are quite superficial. People in India practice sexual promiscuity with about the same frequency as people in America, they just prefer to hide it. And besides that, India is becoming more sexually liberal every day. I am an Indian who was born and raised in the West, and I find that the sexual ethics I was raised with (basically: don't even look at a woman before marriage) are generally not shared by people I know who were raised in India.

Now if you watch the average Bollywood movie, you won't find much kissing in the romantic scenes, and you certainly won't find any sex. But people in India are exposed to Western forms of entertainment as well. It's not as though Indians have never seen public kissing before. And the things I see described in the original post are most definitely overreactions on the part of Hindu fundamentalists, and, as Bladibla said, acts of extreme arrogance.

shramana said:
People in general do not believe that ancient Indians produced nuclear bombs etc, atleast I have never heard this sort of a claim.

I didn't hear about this until recently either, so clearly it isn't supported by most Indians. But apparently, Vedic pseudoscience has made its way even into the higher levels of Indian government. I'm told that some people want it taught in schools. Siddharth seems to have had some exposure to this, and perhaps he can point us in the direction of specific examples.

shramana said:
"Aryabhata gives a table of the trigonometric sine function, calling them jya in Sanskrit. The table gives the sines of angles at intervals of 3°45'. The sine tables are needed to work out the geometrical measurements of positions of stars and planets on the celestial sphere. Thus we see that Aryabhata was conversant with the notions of spherical trigonometry. Moreover, at the conceptual level, his awareness of the spherical shape of the Earth and its spin around an axis reflect how advanced he was with respect to his contemporaries. For example, he argues in one verse of the Aryabhatiya that although the stars appear to go westwards, they are in fact fixed and we are observing them from the moving platform of the spinning Earth."

Aryabhata was an Indian mathematician. The proponents of Vedic "science" claim that the Vedas contain scientific information and engineering specifications for the construction of advanced alloys, nuclear weapons, and other such things. Their claims are religious in nature.

shramana said:
I would like to know which book claims that ancient indians made atom bombs.

Well, so would I. I'm the one taking the position that Hindu scriptures contain no accurate scientific information.

klusener said:
Also, the comparisons of these groups to the KKK is far-fetched, to say the least.

Since I'm the one who made this comparison, I should probably comment on this. I think the comparison to the KKK is quite apt. Have you actually spoken to these guys? I know a few Indian nationalists myself, and they most certainly hold to racial supremacist views. Many of these people actually think that the Indian race is intellectually and (formerly) technologically superior to other people. Maybe if these words weren't coming from racial minorities, they would sound more overtly racist. But we can't ignore the problem of belief in racial superiority, no matter who holds to it.
 
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  • #16
Since I'm the one who made this comparison, I should probably comment on this. I think the comparison to the KKK is quite apt. Have you actually spoken to these guys? I know a few Indian nationalists myself, and they most certainly hold to racial supremacist views. Many of these people actually think that the Indian race is intellectually and (formerly) technologically superior to other people. Maybe if these words weren't coming from racial minorities, they would sound more overtly racist. But we can't ignore the problem of belief in racial superiority, no matter who holds to it.

It is somewhat interesting and amusing that you always seem to find and talk to these crackpots, while the rest of us never appear to get the opportunity.
 
  • #17
neutrino said:
This has actually been blown out of proportion by the news media...
The media blowing it out of proportion? They didn't just make up the effigy-burning. Incidents that result in effigy-burning are generally considered newsworthy even when not associated with the news-power of celebrities.
 
  • #18
Francis M said:
Was there deliberate and malicious intent to break the law and insult specific religious beliefs?
Good lord no.

No celebrity would ever stage an outrageous and offensive stunt just because it might get them more publicity.

Sinead didn't realize that tearing up a pic of the Pope might offend RCs, just as Jackson and Timberlake couldn't possibly have known that an exposed breast might offend millions of All-AMerican superbowl families.

:biggrin:
 
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  • #19
DaveC426913 said:
Gere went over there as a guest, got up in front of millions of citizens and performed a highly offensive act with one of their most cherished celebrities, insulting the people and at the same time sullying her image. They might as well have had sex on the stage.

Hold on. Let's put this in perspective. Richard Gere kissed her on her cheek. I completely fail to see how that's a "highly offensive act". The immediate audience was in no way offended. Also, remember that this was a part of an AIDS awareness programme. Richard Gere attempted to show that kissing and hugging does not spread AIDS.

This is NOT simply a few fundamentalists getting their noses out of joint over a small faux pas. Public displays of touching or kissing to Eastern culture is worse than public displays sex to us - it is simply NOT for public consumption. They do not show kissing in their movies - ever. Watch a few. (BTW, Asian culture is the same.)

I have watched a few, and while what you say might have been true 20 years ago, http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/04/the_richard_gereshilpa_shetty.html".

Besides, you seem to grant yourself the right to complain about something that offends you personally. If 9,999,999 more people felt the same way you do, would that mean you should shut up about it?

I'm not saying that people shouldn't complain. What I'm complaining about is the magnitude of protests over such minor issues. Death threats, burning effigies, going to the police?

In a secular democracy, which India is supposed to be, why does one impose his personal moral views based on some religion as a law? What makes it worse, is that this is not a one off incident. Such a mentality of "protecting Indian culture" happens quite often in many fields.
 
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  • #20
klusener said:
It is somewhat interesting and amusing that you always seem to find and talk to these crackpots, while the rest of us never appear to get the opportunity.

Well...I'm an Indian, and as such many of my friends are Indians. Given that you'll find Indian supremacists only among Indians (by definition), I have a higher probability of running into these guys than most other Americans. As I said earlier, I only learned about the Hindu nationalist movement relatively recently. And after talking to my friends about it, I was quite surprised to learn that a few of them actually bought into such nonsense.
 
  • #21
Ok, he should have known to do that. He should have researched about the area and not be so ignorant even though being a Westener means being ignorant.

Yes, they did over react, but guess what, if someone crazy like that happened here that was against our values, people would go crazy too. Crazy people are everywhere.
 
  • #22
JasonRox said:
Ok, he should have known to do that. He should have researched about the area and not be so ignorant even though being a Westener means being ignorant.

Yes, they did over react, but guess what, if someone crazy like that happened here that was against our values, people would go crazy too. Crazy people are everywhere.

Yes, it's true that crazy people are everywhere, but that doesn't mean we need to exceed to their demands. Religious fundamentalists usually have some sort of ulterior motive, and I'm guessing that politics is always involved. People in America regularly do things that offend our sensibilities. Cartoons on Fox Entertainment alone make irreverent jokes about several American religions, and you don't see religious people in America up in arms about this.

Of course, even in America you've got the people who think that Teletubbies and Harry Potter are secret conspiracies by the gay and pagan agendas, respectively. I don't view these Hindu fundamentalists any differently. I think we need to step back and ask: precisely why should we be catering to the excessive and artificial demands of a few fanatics? This isn't drunkenness and debauchery we're talking about here, it's a kiss. Even Janet Jackson's flash at the Superbowl a couple years ago (which clearly violates American popular morality) didn't result in protests and demonstrations. It's not as though Richard Gere defacated on a Hindu idol or unleashed a pig in a mosque. There is vast cultural and religious diversity in this world, even within India. The man can't be expected to research each and every cultural and religious value, so as to avoid offending even one religious fundamentalist. I myself am a religious person, but I don't whine every time someone says or does something that offends me. I think that everyone should be expected to tolerate some minimum level of offensive behavior, because everyone does something or another that's bound to offend someone else.
 
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  • #23
As I said earlier, I only learned about the Hindu nationalist movement relatively recently. And after talking to my friends about it, I was quite surprised to learn that a few of them actually bought into such nonsense.

By 'Hindu nationalists', you mean organizations like the RSS, correct?

Once again, these organizations are some of the most vocal supporters of what you would call predominantly 'white' countries, especially America and Israel.

Articles of interest:

RSS neither nationalist nor fascist, says Christian priest after research
http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19980823/23550294.html

A recent issue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-backed weekly Organiser has gone out of its way to support the Zionist cause, arguing that the recent violence was the result of Palestinian intransigence. The article endorsed the Zionist dream of a "Greater Israel". (When the first Al Fatah delegation was officially invited to India by the Congress(I) government in the early 1970s, the only party that staged a demonstration against the visiting delegation was the Jan Sangh, the earlier avatar of the Bharatiya Janata Party.)
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1722/17220140.htm [Broken]

Just some things to consider. You can call these organizations many words, but racist and fascist are not among them.

Regarding the Gere incident, I think it has more to do with the conservative culture present in the region (the subcontinent, in general) than any particular religion.
 
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  • #24
Coincidentally, tonight Fox aired the Simpson's epsiode where Lisa becomes a Buddhist...starring Richard Gere.
siddharth said:
Especially when they are from religious nationalistic groups, burning effigies and wasting everyone's time.
"Effigy, eh...? Yep, nothing burns like an effigy!"

-Homer

Anyway, I simply don't understand the concept of being offended when someone clearly doesn't mean to be offensive. How would such people react to a car accident? Rage? Burning effigys? Pulling a gun? An accident is an accident. Humans are human and they make mistakes. Someone who gets upset over a simple accident is just not a nice person.
 
  • #25
klusener said:
By 'Hindu nationalists', you mean organizations like the RSS, correct?

No, that isn't what I had in mind. I don't have any special liking for RSS either, but I was referring quite specifically to the believers in Vedic pseudoscience, which I mentioned earlier. What's your take on these guys?
 
  • #26
shramana said:
I would like to know which book claims that ancient indians made atom bombs.

Try Google with "vimana".
Somewhere in the result set I came across this claim.
 
  • #27
NoTime said:
Try Google with "vimana".
Somewhere in the result set I came across this claim.

Interesting that you mention that. The Vedic pseudoscience crowd claims that Vimanas are the aircraft created by the ancient Indians. They point to Ravana's flying chariot in the epic "Ramayana" as evidence of this. Preposterous, isn't it?
 
  • #28
Arunma, have you read the vedas? If not please atleast find out what they are about.
Rig veda is a collection of hyms about rituals, mainly sacrifical.
Sama veda is a collection of melodies.
Yajur veda deals with procedure and performance of sacrifices.
Atharva veda deals with magic.
Given the period they were written in they are bound to contain references to magic and that sort of thing. Our scriptures are in general about society and spirituality rather than science, so I fail to understand your repeated jabs at the so called vedic science.
Please clarify what you mean by vedic science.
 
  • #29
some people think that you can transfer souls with a kiss on the lips.
 
  • #30
arunma said:
The Vedic pseudoscience crowd claims that Vimanas are the aircraft created by the ancient Indians. They point to Ravana's flying chariot in the epic "Ramayana" as evidence of this. Preposterous, isn't it?

In Mahabharata it is claimed that Gita was rendered by stopping time before the battle. Now tell me will you take that literally?
Ramayana and Mahabharata are epics not textbooks.
But I do conceed your point here. I have heard some ppl claim that Ravana's flying chariot proved that Indians knew how to make aircrafts. I prefer not to comment on this not knowing if there is any proof to prove/disprove this.
But as far as alloy making is concerned, the iron pillar near Qutub Minar which is quite rust free till date is generally considered a proof.
 
  • #31
Please clarify what you mean by vedic science.

It's a broad term. One could mean alleged scientific disciples, which are based on the vedas. Like ayurveda, jyotisha (astrology). vedic evolution and so on. It would also include the postmodern interpretation of the vedas that Meera Nanda talks about. She puts it as "(false) claims of finding a tradition of empirical science in the spiritual teachings of the Vedas and Vedanta"
 
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  • #32
siddharth said:
Hold on. Let's put this in perspective. Richard Gere kissed her on her cheek. I completely fail to see how that's a "highly offensive act".
You did not see the same footage the rest of the world did.

He kissed and kissed her, mauled her, dipped her, and then began slathering up and down her neck. I would surmise that my her body language she found it unwelcome.


...which causes me to wonder whether this thread would even exist if you had seen this on TV rather than read it in an article.
 
  • #33
DaveC426913 said:
You did not see the same footage the rest of the world did.

He kissed and kissed her, mauled her, dipped her, and then began slathering up and down her neck. I would surmise that my her body language she found it unwelcome.

Are we talking about the same footage? The one I saw on TV wasn't like what you described.

Anyway, there's a bigger issue I'm trying to highlight in this thread, and it's that people shouldn't try to legally enforce their moral views, based on religion/culture, on others if they claim to live in a secular democratic country. If you want to follow some customs, sure. But why expect everyone else to follow your customs?
 
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  • #34
shramana said:
Arunma, have you read the vedas? If not please atleast find out what they are about.

Yes, actually I have read them.


shramana said:
Rig veda is a collection of hyms about rituals, mainly sacrifical.
Sama veda is a collection of melodies.
Yajur veda deals with procedure and performance of sacrifices.
Atharva veda deals with magic.
Given the period they were written in they are bound to contain references to magic and that sort of thing. Our scriptures are in general about society and spirituality rather than science, so I fail to understand your repeated jabs at the so called vedic science.
Please clarify what you mean by vedic science.

I think what we may have here is a miscommunication. The problem here isn't the Vedas. The issue here is with the Hindus who claim that the Vedas contain scientific information. As you said the Vedas are about hymns and various other matters of Hindu spirituality. They don't contain a word of accurate scientific information, and it is wrong for the Hindu fundamentalists to claim otherwise.

shramana said:
In Mahabharata it is claimed that Gita was rendered by stopping time before the battle. Now tell me will you take that literally?
Ramayana and Mahabharata are epics not textbooks.
But I do conceed your point here. I have heard some ppl claim that Ravana's flying chariot proved that Indians knew how to make aircrafts. I prefer not to comment on this not knowing if there is any proof to prove/disprove this.
But as far as alloy making is concerned, the iron pillar near Qutub Minar which is quite rust free till date is generally considered a proof.

The manner of the Gita's rendering is a religious belief, and you can feel free to take the Mahabharata's claims as literally as you choose insofar as it doesn't interfere with real science.

In any case, I contend that it is possible to disprove the claims of Vedic pseudoscience. If ancient Indians had aircraft, then we should be able to find some evidence of this in Indian archeological digs or in Indian historical records. The Vedic pseudoscientists I've spoken with claim that the ancient Indians destroyed their technology because it led them away from their spirituality. So as you can see, these people are making a completely unfalsifiable (=worthless) historical claim.
 
  • #35
arunma said:
Preposterous, isn't it?
Since I did read a lot of the vimana material links (more than just aircraft) on the net, I'll offer my opinions.
1) The originators of the material would not have even a remote chance of being able to replicate the described technology.
2) At best the originators of the material would have observed the technology closely enough to have some understanding of the purpose of some of the major subcomponents, but not be qualified to operate it.
3) I have no idea if there is any relation whatsoever between the material on the net and the claimed original sources.
 
<h2>What sparked the protests against Richard Gere's kiss?</h2><p>The protests were sparked by a video clip of Richard Gere kissing Indian actress Shilpa Shetty on the cheek at an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi. The kiss was seen as a violation of Indian cultural norms and sparked outrage among conservative groups.</p><h2>What were the protestors' main objections to the kiss?</h2><p>The protestors objected to the public display of affection between Gere and Shetty, as it was seen as inappropriate and disrespectful to Indian culture and traditions. They also criticized Gere for not seeking permission from Shetty before kissing her on stage.</p><h2>Did the protests have any impact on Richard Gere's career?</h2><p>The protests did not have a significant impact on Gere's career. While the incident did receive widespread media coverage, Gere continued to work in the film industry and has since starred in numerous successful movies.</p><h2>Were there any legal consequences for Richard Gere?</h2><p>No, there were no legal consequences for Gere as public displays of affection are not considered a criminal offense in India. However, a court in Jaipur did issue a warrant for Gere's arrest in response to a complaint filed by a lawyer, but the warrant was later dismissed.</p><h2>Did the protests have any lasting impact?</h2><p>The protests did not have any lasting impact, as the incident was soon forgotten and did not have any major consequences for Gere or Shetty. However, it did bring attention to the issue of cultural sensitivity and sparked discussions about the boundaries of public displays of affection in different cultures.</p>

What sparked the protests against Richard Gere's kiss?

The protests were sparked by a video clip of Richard Gere kissing Indian actress Shilpa Shetty on the cheek at an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi. The kiss was seen as a violation of Indian cultural norms and sparked outrage among conservative groups.

What were the protestors' main objections to the kiss?

The protestors objected to the public display of affection between Gere and Shetty, as it was seen as inappropriate and disrespectful to Indian culture and traditions. They also criticized Gere for not seeking permission from Shetty before kissing her on stage.

Did the protests have any impact on Richard Gere's career?

The protests did not have a significant impact on Gere's career. While the incident did receive widespread media coverage, Gere continued to work in the film industry and has since starred in numerous successful movies.

Were there any legal consequences for Richard Gere?

No, there were no legal consequences for Gere as public displays of affection are not considered a criminal offense in India. However, a court in Jaipur did issue a warrant for Gere's arrest in response to a complaint filed by a lawyer, but the warrant was later dismissed.

Did the protests have any lasting impact?

The protests did not have any lasting impact, as the incident was soon forgotten and did not have any major consequences for Gere or Shetty. However, it did bring attention to the issue of cultural sensitivity and sparked discussions about the boundaries of public displays of affection in different cultures.

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