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.
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?
I see a lot of assumptions that rice, not a racist term, is a racist term. shrug
You go to the grocery store, grain aisle, and there is a bag of rice. What pops into your head?
Me, a tasty grain that complements many meals.
Ricing is a racist term. I am telling you right now that it is a racist term referring to a type of car modding that Asians are stereotyped as doing. It is explicitly used to deride and exclude Asians from the car enthusiast community. Anyone who's into cars or around people who are has heard this term, but you can Google it if you want.
What does it say about you that you'll deny basic, well known facts to defend using such an exclusionary term in a tiny community with a large amount of Asians in it?
I think you are making shit up.
I have been around a ton of cars and car people. Rice was never used to describe Asians.
A ford focus with a huge wing? Rice
A civic with a massive ground effects? Rice
A twin turbo Supra with nitro? Tuned.
The ethnicity of the driver or country of origin never came into it, East Coast, West Coast.
Is hoopty racist? No. Neither is rice.
Oh really? Do the whites you hang out with use the term refer to any car mod you don't like? Have you asked them where the term comes from?
Haha. I don’t make fun of ppl for their personal choices or their ideology. What is the point in that? Express yourself. Takes all kinds.
I don’t look to be offended nor look to offend.
Thank you for listening to my TED talk.
I'm not making fun of anybody.
If you want me to express myself then I will: I don't like you, and if I knew you irl, I would think less of you after this conversation.
Asian American into car culture here. Ricing and ricers are still derogatory and racist terms to this day. Do not mistake your ignorance of something that no one would bother to tell you for knowledge that it's not true.
Aww man I am sorry to read that. I haven’t seen it personally; sorry you have. Where are you located where being Asian and into cars got you slurs? That is uncool.
It was Indiana at the time, as far as getting cars and racism getting mixed together in one experience for me. These days I'm in Texas, but haven't engaged too much with the car culture here yet.
Edit: btw, sorry for my tone in my previous comment, I was honestly getting pretty worked up going through the comments in this post.
All good. I am genuinely here just for cool desktops and probably shouldn’t have engaged at all as it just distracted from that.
I think what is interesting about online communities is how little impact they have in the real world, yet there is a feeling of impact.
For example, whether rice is in or out, will have no bearing on what happened to you or may happen again, which makes me sad.
Any chance of making a lasting change by winning hearts and minds is lost in a sea of win at all cost hyperbole. Real stories always matter my friend. Hopefully Texas is more chill for you.
As someone that was very into cars (still kind of am but not nearly so much) and tuner culture. Yes, "rice" in the context of customizing a machine to your specific performance needs has always had racist baggage and likely always will. This is a weird hill to die on bud, and it makes you look very sus.