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.

  • tun@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    TIL the origin of the word.

    But I am confused. Anyone offended for using the word?

    When repos changed to main from master, I got problems.

    People are hypersensitive over these words now.

    • Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I’m Asian American. I’m offended by this word. In my experience, it has always been a racist perjorative every time it’s been used.

      Like you mentioned in your other comment, you don’t have the American racial experiences with how this is used to understand why this hurts me, so I’d like to clarify that it does.

    • NormalC [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      When repos changed to main from master, I got problems.

      No you just harbor already racist attitudes. There are a non-trivial amount of people who dislike arbitrary, antiquated terminology used in computer science like “master/slave” “male/female” and of course “master branch.” Simply getting out your bullhorn and asking “who’s actually offended by this?” is demeaning to the issue at hand which goes much farther than just a historical analysis of racism.

        • Nate Cox@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          This is indeed the silliest debate.

          I used the term master for years, never really thought about it. I think I assumed it was referring to a master key (from which other keys are copied), rather than anything to do with ownership of people.

          Then some people felt offended by it because they interpreted it differently than I did.

          So… I changed the word I used. Like, it was the easiest thing in the world to do. “Main” is fine too, rolls right off the tongue, and if it happens to make a group of people feel less discriminated against than that’s all the motivating I need.

          I also changed my repos as I updated them. It was like two commands and maybe a couple of lines in a CI config file. Trivial, even for dozens of them.

          Today I wonder what the big deal is. If it really is “just a word”, well… so is main. Both words. If the one we’re using isn’t actually important then why resist changing it?

          Seems to me like active resistance is kind of an indicator that maybe it really was about the word all along.

    • stuck_in_the_shell@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      But I am confused. Anyone offended for using the word?

      When repos changed to main from master, I got problems.

      People are hypersensitive over these words now.

      Well that’s easy to say when you are not part of the affected group.

      • tun@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        But …

        I am an Asian living in Asia. And I wouldn’t know the racism encountered by someone over other continents. Hence the question.

        Peter Russell makes fun of India people.

        Jo Koy makes fun of Phillipine people.

        Jing Yang makes fun of Chinese people.

        Fluffy makes fun of Mexican people.

        Colored people can call each other N words.

        Even white comedians joke that the people most sensitive are the people who are not in the affected groups.

        • stuck_in_the_shell@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          I;m not gonna discuss your point about comedians because honestly that sounds nonsense to me, however the only reason I’m replying to you is because there is a keypoint in your comment:

          I am an Asian living in Asia. And I wouldn’t know the racism encountered by someone over other continents.

          This very much is why you may not see why this is an issue, if you truly are an Asian living in Asia you didn’t grow up not have experienced life as a minority group, let me tell you that despite whatever origins a person may have I’m pretty sure that every Asian person that lives in a western country could relate with the underlying racism towards them ingrained in a way that every time they try to bring this issues up they are dismissed as they were not possible of being victims of racism because a lot of Asians are successful or they skin light or whatever bullshit reason.

          There is whole problematic and systematic about this and although I have my own opinion and experiences I will not expand further as I am also not an academic, I can only speak for myself.