Unixporn

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Unixporn

Submit screenshots of all your *NIX desktops, themes, and nifty configurations, or submit anything else that will make themers happy. Maybe a server running on an Amiga, or a Thinkpad signed by Bjarne Stroustrup? Show the world how pretty your computer can be!

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Hey, we should all really stop using racist slang to refer to customozation (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Meta post I've decided to make. I enjoyed the unixporn subreddit a lot when I used reddit more. I enjoy customizing my linux de as much as the next nerd.

But you definitely shouldn't use racist slang to refer to the process.

To be clear, I didn't know the origin of the term 'ricing' until fairly recently. I was chattimg with my friend and used it to describe my de setup. They informed me that apparently it's from car customization, and is a pejorative against generally asian men who customize their car to look like a racecar.

After learning this I was sad to realize just how engrained it is in linux de customization culture. I personally have stopped using the term, and I would ask everyone here stop as well.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm not bothered by it, but it is tacky.

When I was growing up, the term wasn't necessarily directed specifically towards Asian people, but Asian manufactured cars themselves. IE a Honda with a body kit and a loud muffler would be referred to as a "Rice Grinder" by some. It doesn't register in this context to me as racist, but definitely culturally insensitive and stupid.

I'm okay with the move to not use it.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ok, but read what you just wrote again. "Asian manufactured cars" is only slightly abstracted from what you just tacitly acknowledged is racist.

I'm not saying the users of the term for Linux are intentionally being racist, but singling out Asian-manufactured cars is, or at least has been historically. Also, people put aesthetic mods on low quality American car models just as frequently.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I dont agree, and reserve the right to differentiate racism from insensitivity depending on context. But that doesn't mean we can't be on the same page, that the term shouldn't be used.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ok why is there a shit storm about this word now? Linux modding isn't new. Ricing has been used to describe it for a long time. In many ways... isn't it good to pave over bad meanings with inclusive meanings?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

because this isn't reddit anymore and racism isn't the default position.