Yes... I now they're Americans, but in America we shake hands to greet each other. If your religion differs, don't push it on others. What's next...we need to speak other languages to greet those that don't want to speak english. Where does it end?

Review the tape, they only refused to shake hands with wimminz coz it is against their religion. Wimminz should be not seen and not heard or somesuch, Islam is pretty strict about stuff like that, they couldn't afford to be tainted. I mean, gee whiz, they'd have to go back to the factory or somesuch, be reprogrammed, what a drag.

LAST EDITED ON 09-23-06 AT 04:03 PM (EST)

I didn't understand the whole exchange...it seemed to me that the Muslims didn't shake hands because they don't do that with anyone, not just women. It made me wonder if they used an alternate greeting (i.e. if a Japanese team bowed) and if they were prepared to use that. Obviously, they did no such thing, which I don't understand. I do understand that shaking hands is a very Western thing, and by no measure are Muslims considered Western. However, considering that most cultures seem to have a method of greeting people, especially for the first time, I would imagine that they would either use it or adapt.

The Japanese may bow to each other, but when greeting a Westerner, they would think such a person was unusual if they bowed, as they expect us to shake their hands (lightly, I hear...) but it seems Muslims are a bit less culturally adaptive.

And as I type this post, I find myself watching a recorded episode of Deal or No Deal, a show hosted by a man who also has a shaved head and declines to shake hands...

It has to do with the prohibitions on interactions between men and woman. Men are only allowed to touch woman they are related to by blood or marriage.

This article covers customs for shaking hands but only between same sex.

http://islamtoday.com/show_detail_section.cfm?q_id=794&main_cat_id=14

Imaginary friends by Bob!

Just a moment or so before that one of the Black Muslims was shown shaking hands with one of the other guy racers. Why he explained not shaking hands with a woman in terms of "we don't do that" I can't imagine, though a more accurate explanation of the religious prohibition might have taken time and the careful selection of a lot of one and two syllable words.

If your religion differs, don't push it on others.

I hardly think that politely explaining to someone that a certain behavior is part of your religion is "pushing it on others". If they had said something like, "We won't shake a woman's hand, and you'd all better convert to Islam or perish like the infidels you are," then that would be pushing their religion on others. It may be difficult for an American non-Muslim to understand the customs that these men follow, but it should not be difficult to understand that if those customs are motivated by religion and do not harm others, there's no problem if they follow those customs.

I agree that some of the teams are predictable from other seasons. There are lots more relationships that could be explored (or exploited?!?!) on this show if the producers took a closer look. Maybe some groups of people just do not apply?

A "specialized" season, though a gimmick, could be interesting if done well! There could be races with Brother/Sister Teams, Mother/Daughter Teams, Granfather/Grandson Teams, Teams with couples who are celebrating their 25th Anniversaries, or - in a novel experiment - teams of people who have never met each other before, but wanted to be on the show! Maybe even groups of 4 or 6 strangers for a change???

In any event, I'm not so sure they needed to identify a team by their religious affiliation unless they were going to agree to do it for ALL the teams. Which one is the Jewish Team? How about the atheists? Where's the Cathjolics? It just seemed kind of silly to identify one team like this...

I like the start they are off to this season and look forward to following this group of DAW's around the globe again all season!

LAST EDITED ON 09-25-06 AT 11:54 AM (EST)

Strangers racing as TAR partners, that really could be interesting. But a lot of the draw of the show traditionally has been the test it puts on ongoing relationships. Anyway, just please don't give me a Jonathan partner. I was raised in a pacifist sect and am not allowed to hit back.

It's on Sunday so no TAR drinking game. Except for Columbus Day.

Like the stock market, there should be a ticker going across the bottom of the screen telling you where each team is located.

An arkiegrl siggie

"I think they did to get the most competitive people they can on this show. Seems like the teams are all gimics we have seen before. There is the parent that is upset because they have a gay child, their is the male gay couple, their is the competitive jerk husband, the team of male models, the team of female models, etc. Let's just get 12 teams of the most competitive people we would ever see. I mean who here does not think the male models will win? Seems perdictable to me."

The show is entertainment. If they only took the most competitive teams, all teams would look alike and be two young male teams. That would get boring pretty fast. Ultimately TAR needs ratings and to get ratings they need characters on their teams,even if they don't have much a chance to win.

Slice & Dice Sigpic Chop Shop 2005