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submitted 2 years ago by const_void@lemmy.ml to c/unixporn@lemmy.ml

The Wikipedia definition seems to indicate it has origins as a racist term and I've never understood why unix users have adopted this terms instead of something benign like "themes" or "theming" which I remember being in use long before I ever heard "rice". So what gives? Why use "rice" instead of "theme"?

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[-] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 2 points 2 years ago

Yes, it is a derogatory term from car modification. Taking away the context doesn't make it any less racist.

[-] fantasy95@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Taking away the context doesn’t make it any less racist.

How doesn't it? I would argue most people who use the term 'rice' aren't even aware of its origins.

[-] tkk13909@fosstodon.org 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

@const_void nobody cares. If you enter the Linux customization community, see the word "ricer" or "rice", and get offended, you probably need a break from the internet.

[-] PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

You can just say that you don't care. You don't need to frame your opinion as belonging to hundreds of people, none of whom asked you to.

And of course people in the community don't care. If they did, they wouldn't have joined the community.

[-] gumpy@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I'm surprised to see it suddenly in wide use here, honestly. I've been 'in the linux community' for 25 years or so and only started seeing people use it in this context in the last month. Jarring isn't the right word but it seems sudden to me knowing the connotations from the mid-to-late 90s car culture.

[-] ErevanDB@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 years ago

First time I'm hearing of this, how would this possibly be racist?

Decades ago it (in my experience) originated from the use of usually gaudy non-performance enhancements to Japanese or other foreign cars (mostly originally Hondas IIRC) to make them look fast or faster without actually doing anything to make them fast. (gigantic rear spoilers, loud exhaust, neon underlights, etc)

In a pretty short time it bled into doing the same to any slow car (I think it was mostly Hondas to start because so many people were doing it to Honda Civics at the time), then I think (again this is just in my own usage at the time) into usually gaudy non-performance enhancements to ANY car.

There's probably also some connection to "rice burners" which I think predates the word, which I first heard applied to motorcycles, again Japanese brands like Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and then later sometimes to cars from similar brands.

The racism in "ricing" comes from the idea that since the original targets of the term tended to be Japanese or other asian cars (Kia, hyundai) and with the perception that rice is closely associated with those cultures -- "ricing out" your car essentially meant "covering it with gaudy fripperies like those Japanese cars."

I understand why some folks think it's racist, and I understand why some folks don't, but I don't use the term anymore because I decided it wasn't that hard to use another word, and just because I don't think it's hurtful that doesn't mean it isn't to someone.

@tables

Edit - moved parenthesis

[-] Heavybell@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

This is the only context I've heard the term. People use it for theming desktop apps now?

[-] eltimablo@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements

[-] polymerwitch@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

I'm not a part of the demographic who would experience racism around this. So, I can't comment there.

I am a white hipster though. So, I usually call my window manager customizations "artisanally hand crafted".

[-] isbiltur@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

I don't think it's racist. I just don't like it. Themes or theming works for me. It just makes me think of the kids who install kali and describe themselves as haxors.

[-] coffeebiscuit@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

I only know the term form car tuning. And specifically used for tricked out Japanese cars. The term picked up steam after Need for Speed - Tokyo drift.

Besides that it’s also used for Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements. Only cosmetics and no performance, the opposite of a sleeper car. In this case it’s a bad thing. And if a word is used in a bad way and has a possible race connection in can be considered racist. If someone feels offended because an it’s race related, just assume it’s racist.

[-] kabe@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I don't know but it seems like it's a 'nix thing.

I was in the Windows customization scene for years and never heard the term "ricing" until I discovered customization on Linux.

[-] drdnl@programming.dev 0 points 2 years ago

I thought it had to do with the fact that most themes on Linux consist of a large collection of dotfiles, dots, rice. But that might just be me

[-] SkepticElliptic@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

No, it originally was a derogatory term for people who modify japanese cars. Then it began to apply to shoddy or garish modifications to any car. Then people started using it to mean modifying something to their own tastes.

[-] Nuuskis9@feddit.nl 0 points 2 years ago

I've been living with this term for a decade now and this is literally the first time I hear someone gets offended from that word.

Are you const_void asian by yourself?

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 0 points 2 years ago

Just because no one you know gets offended doesn't mean it's not racist.

[-] Nuuskis9@feddit.nl 0 points 2 years ago

Lol. But if it was the case, I bet I've seen this word offending someone or being racist would've occured at least once during the decade?

Linux users still brigs up wifi and SystemD regurarly so if there were a room for this particular word being offensive I'm 100% sure it would be discussed at least twice during a decade.

I could accept op being right if this was discussed more than zero times before, even though I don't get how and why people gets offended by any word. Even less I get why on earth anybody would get offended for some 3rd person and I accept it just being me who don't gets it.

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 points 2 years ago

Again, just because no one in the room you were talking in thought it was offensive doesnt mean it's not outside of that room.

After all, you're here, in a different room with new people and the new people are offering you new perspectives. One of those new perspectives is that that is a racist term.

[-] i_am_batman@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago
[-] const_void@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

No need to be rude

[-] !deleted168346@kbin.social -1 points 2 years ago

You should stop focusing on vocabulary and get your mind on intent, this is getting stupid.

[-] NathanUp@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Why is it stupid to discuss whether the language we use could be harming people? If you're not interested in joining that discussion productively, you could simply scroll on.

[-] !deleted168346@kbin.social -1 points 2 years ago

The language used is not going to harm people. The intent is, which was my point.

Read -> Parse the meaning -> React accordingly. Is a correct way to communicate.
Read -> React to trigger word -> Disregard meaning Is not. It's just conditioned response.

If you do not think disagreement is a productive contribution, maybe you're not looking for a discussion.

[-] NathanUp@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Let me get this straight:

In the following scenario, the app developer is in the right?

  • App dev: Here's my new app! It's called F----T, for FAntastic Gnome Game On Terminal.
  • Me: Hey, that word is offensive to me and others like me, it's a word we hear before being beaten, bullied, killed, or discriminated against. Do you think you could change it?
  • App dev: No. My intent was not to discriminate. You're being unreasonable.
  • Me: The fact that you are unwilling to even entertain changing the app name from a well known slur used against people like me makes me feel completely unwelcome.
  • App dev: Sounds like your problem, sticks and stones.
[-] nitefox@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago

Difference being that rice is not an insult per se, which means that using the term rice isn’t inherently racist.

To my (very obvious) thesis: “Uee Mario, pizza mare mandolino!” Isn’t racist, each of those words are innocent and have no negative meaning, yet it is racist as fuck

Checkmate to whatever you were trying to prove

[-] NathanUp@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

I was responding to the argument in the previous comment, not making a point about the term "rice."

[-] NathanUp@lemmy.ml -1 points 2 years ago

Downvotes are cute, rebuttals are better. Do you just not like what I have to say, or can you teach me something? I'm all ears.

this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2023
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