Good one, Dee.

Granted, Richard Gere is a liberal idiot....but how could he so misunderstand a culture and thus so grossly offend its people?

You're right...if this had been a muslim country (or, say, muslims in France), can you imagine how violent the protests may have been?

I wonder how the rest of Gere's liberal friends feel to see a fellow "peace activist" burned in effigy?  Maybe they're getting a little taste of what's to come if they keep up the stupidity.  Hoping.

:The spokesman for Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata Party condemned the kiss." "Such a public display is not part of Indian tradition,"

Oh Dee, this is rich! An innocent kiss is a fobbiden public display, but burning people in effigy isn't !?!? Wouldn't want to corrupt the kids with offensive public displays. Makes you wonder it the west will EVER understand the east!

"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...

I agree Mr. Bill, but it's not just the women.  What liberals can't seem to comprehend is that here in the U.S. - Christians protest what they see as immorality by not watching their movies, but to these people and radical Muslims their actions would cause violence.  How are they going to deal peacefully with that?

The reaction was a combination of religious and cultural. In India even though many people may not be religious, their culture is largely defined by Hinduism.

Even though the movies that come out of Bollywood often resemble SNL's "Tales of Ribaldry," public displays of affection are a cultural taboo in India. As I watched the video of Gere repeatedly kissing Ms. Shetty, I could see the surprise and horror on her face because in her culture/religion being involved in a non-theatrical scene like that casts her image somewhere in the vicinity of a being prostitute. She at first appears to try to pull away, but then it looks like she is trying to play along to make the best of a bad situation without dissin' Gere.

You're right, the reaction was overblown but, I thought that Gere's actions were out of line. These types of misunderstandings/offenses are what occur when people don't respect other people's beliefs or religion. When in Rome...

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and then toss it in the face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the oranges you asked for in the first place!" --Bill McNeal, NewsRadio episode 3.17

I was looking at riled one's comment below and I think MM should go to Iran instead. Then maybe he could do a documentary on Stoning

In Sharia law , Gere would have gotten both of them stoned.