Thursday, May 17, 2007
@8:50 PM
URL:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070515/ap_en_ot/people_gereThis article is about the event of the actor Richard Gere kissing Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. News of this had quickly spread all over the world, causing it to be reported all over the world. This caused some unhappiness in India, where some Hindu hard-liners, felt that Richard Gere broke public obscenity laws by doing so. In this case, hard-liners are people who are extremely conservative. India has a traditional and conservative culture, so there is no surprise that there is such uproar, leading to Richard Gere being sued.
From my point of view, I think that this matter has been blown-up. As I am from the newer generation, I am more open to change. In these modern (and liberal) times, kissing in public is not uncommon, moreover when the kiss was only on the cheek. It was not an act of romance, it was not a public display of affection. So personally, I think that those Indians are overreacting.
From the Hindu hard-liners' point of view, India is a conservative country, where women are not supposed to be out in the public, much less engaging in public kissing. By doing such, Richard Gere could be sued for kissing Shilpa Shetty, when it was not planned. It could be seen as an act of molestation, or an act against the woman's modesty.
But not all Indians are having such a strong reaction. Most of them “have responded with either mocking bemusement or utter indifference”. So even though there are some hard-liners who emphasise the conservative nature of India, most of them are quite liberal. So I feel that since most of the population of India do not strongly object, Richard Gere should not be sued. But this is just my personal opinion.
Another matter, although not relevant to the article, is on the situation on racism. Richard Gere being able to kiss someone of another race so casually just shows that the global situation of racism is definitely not a problem. This is good, as racism just hinders progress of society. In the past, racism has lead to riots and such, thus heavily hindering the progress of society.
In conclusion, there is nothing bad about this matter. It may even be good, because it addresses the societal status of India, raising awareness.
{♥} by the seaside
