Richard Gere's Kiss: Protestors Outraged and Burning Effigies

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Richard Gere's public display of affection towards Shilpa Shetty during an AIDS awareness event has sparked significant outrage among conservative groups in India, leading to protests and the burning of effigies. Critics argue that Gere's actions insult Indian culture, as public displays of affection are generally frowned upon in Eastern societies. While some view the protests as an overreaction fueled by nationalism, others emphasize the need for cultural sensitivity from Western celebrities. The incident has also highlighted the growing influence of religious nationalism in India, which some believe is detrimental to scientific discourse. Overall, the situation reflects a clash between differing cultural norms and the complexities of globalization.
  • #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.
 
  • #36
siddharth said:
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...

Yes, well let's first make sure the issues are based on the facts. :-p
 
  • #37
DaveC426913 said:
Yes, well let's first make sure the issues are based on the facts. :-p

Just to clarify, I did see the whole incident on TV, and the incident didn't seem to occur as you described it. So, I think there's some miscommunication here :-p
 
  • #38
By the way, did you know that kissing occurs first in the Punjab around the time Alexander came to India? Ironic how the Hindus among whom kissing occurs for the first time in known literature have made public displays of it an obscenity- the result, in my opinion, of the hundred years of conservative Islamic rule and then the British( who were prudish back then if not now) which altered the sensibilities of the Hindus in this respect which is quite unfortunate. For their original culture was never prudish like that of Jews or Muslims in terms of covering women etc., etc- one just has to read their literature and history to see this.
But then again modern India is a result of the mixtures of various peoples and invasions from the Huns, Scythians, the Greeks, the Mongols, the British etc., etc., and although there is some continuity of culture, modern day India different from the "wonder that was ancient India" to quote a famous book on Indian civilization by an Englishman, just as modern Greece is quite different from the wonder that was ancient Greece...One cannot compare the two..http://www.tamu.edu/tamunews/News/stories/DailyReports/021306news-8.html
 
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  • #39
Arrest warrant against Richard Gere; Shilpa summoned

Jaipur, April. 26 (PTI): Observing that their public kiss was "highly sexually erotic", a city court today issued an arrest warrant against Hollywood actor Richard Gere and summoned actress Shilpa Shetty for appearance on May 5.

Dinesh Gupta, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jaipur city, issued the order on a PIL filed by Poonam Chand Bhandari, an advocate-resident here, who complained that their public kiss during an anti-AIDS awareness programme in Delhi was an "indecent representation" of sexual activities in a public place.

..."Therefore, she is an accused under Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code," it observed. It directed the SP (Headquarters), Jaipur, that since Gere was a foreigner and could leave India he should be arrested at the earliest and a warrant served on him.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200704261758.htm

How <insert adjective here> is that? Getting jailed for an exaggerated kiss on the cheek?

If the incident was a part of a movie, it would have probably got a PG-13 rating, at worst.
 
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  • #40
Highly sexually erotic? :smile: :smile:
 
  • #41
neutrino said:
Highly sexually erotic? :smile: :smile:

The Chief Judicial Magistrate should probably arrest himself for having the audacity to think of "vulgar and corrupting" thoughts. How dare he think like that? Doesn't he know he's corrupting Indian culture with his thoughts :eek: ?
 
  • #42
DaveC426913 said:
They might as well have had sex on the stage.
You're implying there's something wrong with having sex on the stage?
 
  • #43
Apparently the sad plight of six million women who are forced to earn a living through prostitution in India and who contract AIDS( was it not for AIDS awareness that the actors were there in the first place?) and the human trafficking that occurs there does not seem to
offend the magistrate!
 
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  • #44
In a country where the national pastime is watching soft-porn (Bollywood) and where half of all children have been sexually abused, this is nothing but another display of the favorite national reaction - hypocrisy.