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submitted 1 year ago by blashork@hexbear.net to c/unixporn@lemmy.ml

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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[-] PuppyOSAndCoffee@lemmy.ml 29 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] NormalC@hexbear.net 51 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] PuppyOSAndCoffee@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] triplenadir@lemmygrad.ml 34 points 1 year ago

yes, using bigoted terminology throughout tech is a great example of the cyberpunk DYSTOPIA that fiction warned us about.

meanwhile, in the political side of punk, we're antiracist and finding new words is the least we can do

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this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
138 points (63.3% liked)

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