this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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Unixporn

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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] 33 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I disagree.

Ricers, in the 80s, as a term that referred to Japanese cars (Honda, Toyota) who burned rice instead of gas. This is bad. Full stop.

From there, rice, in the 90s-00s, referred to the Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancement: typically bolted onto Honda and Toyota, it moved from that to any cosmetic car customization 10s.

Now we are in 20s, and rice refers to customizations that represent one’s personal choices regarding cosmetic enhancements.

Is that a bad thing?

Why should a word be locked in on a definition from 40 yrs ago? Why should it be stuck in the past?

Why not reclaim a word? Customizing a desktop is a labor of love. It takes a decent amount of time, and is deeply personal, representing one’s own taste.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You're not disregarding someone opinion based on race per chance.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's also something somebody can't control. So it's still shitty to ask them that.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

It's really not shitty to ask if they have the background to understand what racism is to people who experience it. I grew up blessed with a good community, and experiencing racism for the first time when I moved away is still one of the most painful things I've ever felt.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago (9 children)
  • it started as something racist
  • but then—

We can stop right there

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why not reclaim a word? Customizing a desktop is a labor of love. It takes a decent amount of time, and is deeply personal, representing one’s own taste.

Or why not find our own words? Words aren't "locked" in on a single definition, but rather carry their whole host of definitions and history with them. You have to judge diction on all its fronts. Reclaiming a word means being part of the group that the term has actively disparaged (ex: reclaiming words like "queer") . Using "rice" is not an act of reclaiming in this context and we shouldn't view it that way.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That is actual bs. Rice doesn’t bother me - I don’t read rice with a racial connection, at all. Just doesn’t exist for me. It is food and something that’s been customized.

I say fuck it. Shatter the limitations of fraudulent history; don’t just go punk, go full cyberpunk.

The major culture is hung up in non issues; and why not? So go counter to the culture:

rice your desktop.

You do you however. I am not here to say how you should think and do.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (9 children)

It's a term used to racially exclude people by calling Asian car enthusiasts tacky posers. Is that really the energy we want to bring (or rather keep) to the Linux community?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Can you be sure of that? And if it did matter to the public image of the Linux community, would agree to stop using that term, or is using a word that to this day has racist connotations more important to you than ensuring that all members of the Linux community feel welcome?

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Are you fucking stupid, you think Japanese cars used to run on rice?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

No one thinks any cars actually burned rice to run, they were saying that's how the term originated (from a racist joke). But let's just jump straight to cussing people out and personal attacks.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Oh no, I jumped straight to cussing people out and conducting personal attacks against somebody trying to argue for continual use of a racist term

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

You're plainly in the wrong here in terms of behaviour. But I also know there's no getting through to you based on your behaviour.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're a tone policing dweeb arguing in support of being racist. If you need more context for the history of the term, please read further here

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have said nothing on my opinions on this issue other than to call you out for being a dipshit. Keep assuming. It seems to be all I've witnessed except from a very small majority from your instance.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago

so you have no opinion and you decided to get mad at the person cussing out the racist guy?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why don't you watch YOUR behavior

You just called her a dipshit, why are you resorting to personal attacks?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Great bit account how did I just discover about you cat-trans

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

Yeah I should have said acting like a dipshit. But I'm glad that's the only thing you were able to focus on lol.

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

Not OP but, You're missing the point. This fact about the word rice is new to a lot of folks here, including me. You're hellbent on proving that everybody is in on some racist circle that's perpetuating the use of this word.

If a word changes it's general meaning in normal day use... from something so bad to something that's no longer associated with said bad thing... is it really bad? What about gay then? That term has be co-opted by homosexual men. Do you suggest we stop using the word gay? Then I would call you a reactionary.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

This fact about the word rice is new to a lot of folks here, including me.

This is why we're in this thread trying to educate you, my child.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago

From there, rice, in the 90s-00s, referred to the Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancement: typically bolted onto Honda and Toyota, it moved from that to any cosmetic car customization 10s.

[Citation Needed]

Any acronym other than the name of an organization can be presumed a retronym until proven otherwise