Can you please invade India next, America?

[Combat Ingrid]

The thread title should read "Richard Gere is a Shetty kisser"

[Asher]

Originally posted by Ned
Asher, did you have an opinion about Nancy Pelosi wearing a head scarf while visiting Saudi Arabia?

Who let her out of the kitchen??

[Dinner]

Originally posted by aneeshm


Five simple examples:

1) Openness of sexual promiscuity (over here, we believe that if you have to do it, at least keep it private)

2) Lack of reverence for teachers

3) Lack of respect for elders

4) Putting old people in homes, and in general considering it OK to treat them like dirt, like a burden

5) Expecting children to be independent at the age of seventeen or eighteen

The second and fourth ones bother me quite a bit. They're unthinkable and abhorrent.

Two,three, and four are pretty much bogus. Five is way out of date. One has some basis but there is a wide range going from born again Christians who seem to think that sex should never be fun and only be timed to have kids all the way up to some people doing porn. Most people are in the middle though.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by aneeshm
There's a lots of retards out there. We get our fair share. The most retarded part, though, is the law in question, which illegalises "public obscenity", the problem being that the definition of the same is a few centuries out of date.

I would rather prefer it, though, if people from outside were a bit more sensitive to cultural sensibilities. Many Indians adopt to some Western mores we consider weird or ridiculous stupid or plain barbaric when we visit your countries. Why is it not possible to keep a leash on yourself when you're in India?

ignorance surely. Nobody is going to imagine in their worst nightmares that Indians might object to such innocent displays of affections.

A light kiss on the cheek and a hug??

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Ned
Asher, did you have an opinion about Nancy Pelosi wearing a head scarf while visiting Saudi Arabia?

I personally wouldn't do it and I'd ask her not to conform to barbaric & primative practices but I'd like to note you didn't say a peep about Laura Bush or Rice wearing their head scarves.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Oerdin
One has some basis but there is a wide range going from born again Christians who seem to think that sex should never be fun and only be timed to have kids all the way up to some people doing porn.

Isn't it just the catholic clergy who seem to imply that sex shouldn't be fun and should only be for procreation?

I've never heard that from any of the born again Christian acquaintances and relatives I have and I have had numerous frank discussions with them about their beliefs when they have tried to proselytize to me.

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by Asmodean
aneeshm...please put this into context. Why is it that indians would consider a kiss on the cheek as the next thing to pr0n, whereas we westerners regard it as nothing at all??

Asmodean

I personally don't think much of it at all.

I don't think it was the peck on the cheek - that's quite normal, TBH.

I think it was more the way it was done.

[Pekka]

You mean Richard had lust in his eyes?

However, I say when in Rome, do as the Romans. So... We're laughing at this thing from the outside, not within. So there's a difference. We didn't come to India and protest this, we're outside, laughing at this whole thing, as per usual in western cultures.

But to certain extent I would agree, that one should follow the customs of the host, IN GENERAL.

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by Oerdin


I'm willing to bet this is racism. Elizabeth Hurley marries and Indian guy and has loads of kisses published every where and not a peep out of the knuckle-head Indian nationalists. A white guy kisses a famous Indian actress on the cheek and they want him arrested. It seems a clear cut case of Indian racism.

That angle didn't even occur to me.

Because it's completely bizarre. That's just not the way we think. There may be other forms of the same thing, but this is not one of them.

Why do you attempt to interpret every other culture only in terms of your own preconceptions and own cultural framework? Try, for a minute, to set aside your prejudices. Take an honest look.

Have you ever visited India, by the way?

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by Oerdin


Two,three, and four are pretty much bogus. Five is way out of date. One has some basis but there is a wide range going from born again Christians who seem to think that sex should never be fun and only be timed to have kids all the way up to some people doing porn. Most people are in the middle though.

Is five really out of date? I had no idea.

You revere your teachers? As in, "The Guru is Brahma, the Guru is Vishnu, the Guru is Maheshwara. The Guru is the Para Brahma."?

And you support your parents during their old age?

(I don't really mean you in specific, I mean more generally, you as a Westerner.)

And sexual promiscuity is not an all-pervading influence in the popular culture? It sure seems that way, given the cultural exports and their nature.

[Aeson]

Aneeshm's examples weren't that good. To illustrate some American "sensibilities" that would be hurt by rather harmless acts that some other cultures think nothing of... shouldn't be too hard.

Topless women in public. Burning the American flag. Not invading other countries. Stuff like that.

[Pekka]

We refer our teachers as Sir, by last name etc. Yes, those are methods of keeping a certain distance to you and the teacher, because of their position as mentors. Or using their titles, as in Professor X etc.

So, number 5 doesn't say anything about our lack of respect for teachers, it just shows your inability to understand western culture.

[Asmodean]

Originally posted by Aeson

Topless women in public. Burning the American flag. Not invading other countries. Stuff like that.

Burning the flag isn't illegal. Topless women in public are (in most states).

[Asher]

It's legal here. Both of 'em.

[Aeson]

Originally posted by Asmodean
Burning the flag isn't illegal. Topless women in public are (in most states).

"Sensibilities" and "laws" are sorta different things...

You don't think Americans would be making a fuss if someone here were publicly burning American flags?