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Recently Richard Gere committed an odd public display at an Indian aids rally. He wrapped his arms around the very attractive actress appearing on stage with him and attempted to dip and kiss her. Problem was that the lady did not expect it and the whole display looked vulgar and forced. The way the lady’s back bent it looked as if it may have hurt.

We learned afterwards public display of affection is a cultural taboo for Indians. There were riots. Both kisser and kissed were burned in effigy. And now it has come to the point where an Indian court has sworn out arrest warrants against both people.

I think Richard Gere should surrender to this court. Obviously there is a religious element (not sure if its Vadic or Muslim) in control of the government. Richard Gere could put enormous pressure on these loonies by publicly submitting, and providing international visibility to this kangaroo court. I can see the headlines now, “Man beaten for hugging a woman in public” or “Jailed in the name of love”. Maybe he could sell some tourist kitsch aprons, “Don’t kiss the cook – you are in India!” If there is an idiotic law regarding public display and Gere is convicted then he did the crime and should do the time. If this is an unjust law and an activist court, what better way to rally a nation?

If the law is unjust, Gere could take further action via nonviolent confrontation. One thing I’ve thought of is creating a cultural army. India is one of the poorest countries in the world, most people live on a few euro/month! There should be no shortage of poor Indian boys and girls to kiss and hug tourists while in front of a policeman with photographic evidence. This documentation should force the crackpot judge to convict these tourists. The same trap could be laid for foreign investors and businessmen. Heck faced with conviction, the blind-sided foreigners might even be willing to pay extortion money. The whole venture could become profitable. Perhaps the kissing trap could have a significant influence on foreign tourism and trade drawing attention to silly morality laws.

musashi wrote:I think Richard Gere should surrender to this court. Obviously there is a religious element (not sure if its Vadic or Muslim) in control of the government. Richard Gere could put enormous pressure on these loonies by publicly submitting, and providing international visibility to this kangaroo court. I can see the headlines now, “Man beaten for hugging a woman in public” or “Jailed in the name of love”.

Not much good if they behead him as a punishment! Then we do what? Declare war to defend him? As stupid as this may sound, I'm sure there are many a John Doe who have kissed a female stranger in a bar in the US and ended up a) in jail or b) beaten up (and probably c) dead). While their culture may seem medieval to us we need to respect it as long as it doesn't infringe upon humanitarion rights.

The reports have said the maximum penalty is a fine of a few hundred dollars or 3 months in jail. Of course from what they showed on television, it does appear that angry lynch mobs run rampant in the Indian streets. So perhaps Gere’s life would be in jeopardy.

As to your second point I think all theocracies breakdown in the realm of proportionate punishment. The punishment for hugging someone is 3 months in jail. What is that? The punishment for being an infidel discovered in Mecca? Death. Just for being a visitor a holy city? These religious fanatics have been out of control throughout recorded history. To truly support human rights the punishment should be proportionate with the crime.

I propose that it is impossible to have human rights in any theocracy. My reasoning is based upon one of the tenants of every religion – exclusivity. “Only our religion has the answers, all those other guys? They are all just false prophets.”

proportionate punishment

Andy Fastow CFO of Enron masterminds a scheme that destroys a $68 Billion dollar corporation, ruins hundreds of thousands of peoples life's. Penalty - 6 years!

Christian Rahaim Enron Human Resources executive who stole $3 million from Enron - 5.25 years!

call the supreme court!

Raaz Satik wrote:proportionate punishment

Andy Fastow CFO of Enron masterminds a scheme that destroys a $68 Billion dollar corporation, ruins hundreds of thousands of peoples life's. Penalty - 6 years!

Christian Rahaim Enron Human Resources executive who stole $3 million from Enron - 5.25 years!

call the supreme court!

It'll take a lot more than 6 years if ever for those people to get their lives back. This goes to say about murderers... they seem to get less prison time than ever than before.

More people are saying they should live in prison rather than be put to death cuz its the easy way out instead of the hard way out... they all need to die in prison heh...

IMO what they sow is what they shall reap (in other words, whatever you do to me, the same should be done to you).

musashi wrote:The reports have said the maximum penalty is a fine of a few hundred dollars or 3 months in jail. Of course from what they showed on television, it does appear that angry lynch mobs run rampant in the Indian streets. So perhaps Gere’s life would be in jeopardy.

As to your second point I think all theocracies breakdown in the realm of proportionate punishment. The punishment for hugging someone is 3 months in jail. What is that? The punishment for being an infidel discovered in Mecca? Death. Just for being a visitor a holy city? These religious fanatics have been out of control throughout recorded history. To truly support human rights the punishment should be proportionate with the crime.

I propose that it is impossible to have human rights in any theocracy. My reasoning is based upon one of the tenants of every religion – exclusivity. “Only our religion has the answers, all those other guys? They are all just false prophets.”

While I agree one should respect others in general including religion beliefs even if you don't agree with it, but the point is its wrong IMO to kill someone just because they don't respect your religion (you may not like them, which is ok) and they don't always intentionally disrespect someone or religion on purpose either.

I can't see what is so bad about seeing Mecca from a distance (I'm not sure how close you have to be, even if you could see it from within its walls at least) so horrible that you have to be killed... lol thats kinda like saying "Jeeze how many horses do you have?" then the guy replies by killing you for insulting him with that kind of question (btw... in some cultures asking about their horses is offensive).

To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi “an eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind”. We might add a “a neck for an eye and the whole world is dead.”

In the kissing incident I am sure a “kiss for a kiss” would be completely unsatisfying for the zealots. But three-month incarceration for a kiss is way over board.

Raaz is right, that in some instances punishment is too light, but I’d rather err on this side than allow the extremes handed down by religious courts.

What's the point of teaching our children to apologize when they've done something wrong?

If a country (and by country I mean the governing officials who issued the warrants for his arrest) can't accept a public apology of a misunderstanding (and obvious ignorance)? For a country that originated the Kama Sutra (Kamasutram), they sure are strict.

Religion sucks. It was invented to (a) keep people in order, (b) enforce morality and (c) explain how we came about.

Its the 21st century we know how the universe was created science has proved it and has fact to support this..so why do people insist on being silly???

It seems that everytime I turn the news on someone has killled/maimed someone else in the name of religion.

I say ban religion. If you need something to believe in, believe in yourself.

gobbergreen wrote:Religion sucks. [snip]

I say ban religion. If you need something to believe in, believe in yourself.

I pick on religion more than the next guy, it is probably because I am so into the invisible flying spaghetti monster. But I do thing that just about every religion has captured important lessons that can help us all lead better lives.

That said religious laws are horrible. And institutionalizing religion into government creates nothing more than a slave state. All religion is based upon a concept called “faith”, accepting something that is greater than your capacity to comprehend. All the governed become enslaved as soon as they are compelled to follow a religion. The mullahs know this all too well, it is not a battle of peace and love. The truth is that religious leadership fights the battle for dominance and power.