# Different meanings of racism! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 14, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248 "2005-04-14T05:57:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/21 "2005-04-14T14:39:09Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > I am American, and I really don’t give a fuck if the British call Harley-Davidsons “yank tanks.” Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/22 "2005-04-14T15:56:06Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > It’s not a racist term as it refers to the machine not the person on it. :rolleyes: And also because “American” isn’t a race. In general you might be right; I think it could also just refer to where the machine comes from. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/23 "2005-04-14T16:19:24Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > I think the fact that the phrase bothers people is enough reason not to use it. I don’t understand the point of splitting hairs as to the exact definition of racism. What’s the difference between calling an over-modified car a “ricemobile”, and calling a low-rider a “beanermobile”, or a pimped Cadillac a “watermelon-mobile”? Road apples. Some people go well out of their way to find excuses to be offended, and you can never purify your vocabulary enough to make them happy–those folks just love using moral outrage at racism as an excuse for being rude or abusive to others. Anyone who takes offense at such terms as “pimpmobile” or “ghetto blaster” is at best hypersensitive and at worst a sanctimonious PC asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/24 "2005-04-14T17:53:03Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Oh, well then I apologize for saying you were insensitive. Obviously, if you didn’t _know_ it was insulting, then you weren’t deliberately being insensitive. > > But if you haven’t seen the Rice-Boy website, check it out. I think you’ll get an idea why it’s derogatory. The guy who runs the site claims to be Asian himself, and that he’s therefore not being racist, but that’s a whole different debate. > > [http://www.riceboypage.com/](http://www.riceboypage.com/) But that site isn’t about any race at all, it’s about a sort of car which seems more often than not to be driven by young white Ameticans arround here. It’s like saying Treckie is racist because it is derogatory and usually applied to white nerdy guys. Ricer and rice rocket are terms for a psecific type of vehicle modification. Using common wehicles and modifying them more for looks than performance. To find it racist you really have to try very hard to be insulted. ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/25 "2005-04-14T18:30:22Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > It’s like saying Treckie is racist because it is derogatory and usually applied to white nerdy guys. Ricer and rice rocket are terms for a psecific type of vehicle modification. Using common wehicles and modifying them more for looks than performance. To find it racist you really have to try very hard to be insulted. I don’t really agree with this, because it seems to me that ‘rice’ is more inherently associated with asian people than ‘Trek’ is associated with white guys. IMHO the term can be a little offensive since ‘rice’ does in fact often evoke Asian-ness. The fact that ‘white guys do it too’ almost makes it worse–supposedly everyone knows that the phenomenon is not limited to asian guys/cars, yet people still use a term associated with asian-ness to refer to gaudy, over-modified cars. All I’m saying is a there is a possibility that continuing to use the term can serve to reinforce a link (in some people’s minds) between Asian-ness and crappy cars. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/26 "2005-04-14T21:05:51Z")
> [@arseNal](#): > > All I’m saying is a there is a possibility that continuing to use the term can serve to reinforce a link (in some people’s minds) between Asian-ness and crappy cars. Only if you think Asian cars are crappy. This is my problem with seeing this as bad. Ricer Rockets can be Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, Suberu WRX’s etc. some of the very best performance cars arround. The act of modifying these cars with decals etc started in Asia so is linked with an Asian associated word ‘rice’ but there is no negativity there. Now the Rice-boy was created in that web site to poke fun at people who fit up cars to make them look fast without actually improving there performance. It is no more than laughing at the ‘go-faster’ stripes of the 80’s vehicles, and laughing at these “mutton dressed as lamb” vehicles. The term reinforces the link between Asian produced cars and the best quality mid price sporty vehicles available unless you happen to allready have some strange belief that Asian cars are somehow inferior. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/27 "2005-04-14T21:07:32Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > But that site isn’t about any race at all, it’s about a sort of car which seems more often than not to be driven by young white Ameticans arround here. It’s like saying Treckie is racist because it is derogatory and usually applied to white nerdy guys. Ricer and rice rocket are terms for a psecific type of vehicle modification. Using common wehicles and modifying them more for looks than performance. To find it racist you really have to try very hard to be insulted. I disagree. It says right on the home page: “What started out as a Southern California Asian subculture has grown into a worldwide phenomenon afflicting those of all races.” It’s not the Rice-_Car_ website, it’s the Rice-BOY website. The fact that it has grown larger than just an Asian subculture doesn’t change the fact that “rice” refers to Asians in a stereotypical way. Your analogy sucks, because “Trekkie” is not a stereotypical food eaten by white people. A better analogy would be to say that saying “cracker” is a slur against whites, which it _is_. If we want to talk about things you have to “try very hard” to do, let’s talk about the tortuous logic you’d have to go through to assert that “Rice-Boy” has nothing to do with Asian people. :rolleyes: Again, if I called a Cadillac a “watermelon-mobile”, would that be o.k. as well? Why is that different? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/28 "2005-04-14T21:20:15Z")
Hmm. I first heard the related term “ricer” applied to Japanese motorcycles: the implication was that they were non-masculine bikes ridden by guys without the huevos to handle a real bike like a Harley. That usage’s racist (or, rather, chauvinist) tendencies influence how I view this case, and may influence others as well. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/29 "2005-04-14T21:21:02Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > ## Blowero: What’s the difference between calling an over-modified car a “ricemobile”, and calling a low-rider a “beanermobile”, or a pimped Cadillac a “watermelon-mobile”? > > Road apples. Some people go well out of their way to find excuses to be offended, and you can never purify your vocabulary enough to make them happy–those folks just love using moral outrage at racism as an excuse for being rude or abusive to others. Anyone who takes offense at such terms as “pimpmobile” or “ghetto blaster” is at best hypersensitive and at worst a sanctimonious PC asshole. I notice you didn’t answer my question. I also notice that your response is an utter strawman. I said nothing about either of those terms you mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/30 "2005-04-14T21:24:00Z")
**blowero** , if the term is so racist, then why do **Asians themselves** use it. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/31 "2005-04-14T21:39:30Z")
Bigots build brush fires. As soon as you stomp out one, they’re lighting another one. They’ve already burned yellow, banana, boat, Nikon, meat, lemon, pancake, yolk, slant, and now, rice. Whatever word you say is acceptable, they will appropriate it and make it dirty. Asian itself might likely be next. As I see it, racism doesn’t come from mouths; it comes from hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/32 "2005-04-14T21:40:28Z")
> [@kimera](#): > > **blowero** , if the term is so racist, then why do **Asians themselves** use it. To reclaim it, perhaps? Do you think you should be able to call gay men fags or black people niggers just because that’s what a few of them call themselves? ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/33 "2005-04-14T21:55:24Z")
I am so sick of simple generalizations being characterized as racist. Dammit, most of the “riced out” cars that you see are asian cars and are driven by asians. It is not racist to point this out, is it? Why the hell not call them ricemobiles? Its meant to be a funny generalization, not some derogatory statement about asians. For fuck’s sake. No one calls a Cadillac a “nigger-mobile” because its not funny. But they might call it a “pimp-mobile” because that is. I’m probably not making any sense. I know there’s a fine line especially with those people that have delicate sensibilities but seriously people, its just plain not racist to call it a ricemobile. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/34 "2005-04-14T22:13:11Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > To reclaim it, perhaps? Do you think you should be able to call gay men fags or black people niggers just because that’s what a few of them call themselves? Sadly, Maeglin - judging from past threads on similar subjects, there is a rather large contingent here that does believe exactly that. ☹ In fact, I give an 80% chance that this thread is about to degenerate into a pile-on from that very faction. I was hoping this thread wouldn’t get sidetracked into the the “If they do it themselves, is it o.k. for other people?” debate, but I have a feeling there’s no stopping it now. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/35 "2005-04-14T22:21:41Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > To reclaim it, perhaps? Do you think you should be able to call gay men fags or black people niggers just because that’s what a few of them call themselves? Because it appears to be the Asians themselves that started that term in the first place! It isn’t some sort of ‘reclaiming’ thing if most of the people who used the term were people within that subculture who thought what some people were doing were stupid and decided to make fun of them. The reason it was called rice rockets, is because a lot of people who make rice rockets are full of “AZN pride” and a lot of other Asians just thought their attitude was stupid. Check out [Rice Boy’s page](http://www.riceboypage.com/) where he says > [@](#): > > Don’t you know that the name “Rice-Boy” is racist? - Does the name suggest Asian stuff? Why yes it does. But the “rice” pat refers to the cars, not to the people. For many years, Harley riders have been calling Japanese sport bikes “Rice-Rockets”. No one assumed the rider was Asian then, and no one assumed that the person calling the bike a “rice-rocket” was a racist. Regardless of the race of the drivers, the cars still come from Japan. The ethnic background of Rice-Boys varies widely. The origin of their preferred vehicles (Civic, Integra, Prelude, Eclipse) does not. I admit that when I first heard the term ‘rice rocket’ I was shocked and didn’t understand why my Asian friend could speak the term so easily. Then I learned what ‘rice rockets’ actually were. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/36 "2005-04-14T22:35:18Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Again, if I called a Cadillac a “watermelon-mobile”, would that be o.k. as well? Why is that different? Watermallons are racistly associated with Black americans. So you have purt racism in by using that word. Try Fried Chicken Mobile, Garlic Mobile, Spotted Dick Mobile, Saurkaut Mobile, Chop Suey Mobile, Prawn Barbie Mobile, Hot Dog Mobile, Mayonaise on French Fries Mobile (wait does Belgium build any cars? ), Spaghetti Mobile, Limey Mobile, … Unless the food has allready picked up the stigma and association with racism then the use of that word isn’t racist. I have not yet seen or heard any account that association of eating Rice with Asian people is in any way racist. It is simplistic, maybe even stupid, and in many cases an incomplete or incorrect association, but unless some reasonable group of people within the effected community find it racist and express there wish for it not to be used then it is not racist. Calling me a Limey or a Cracker is not being racist to me. ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/37 "2005-04-14T22:48:02Z")
In So-Cal in the fifties, we called overaccessorized cars beaner wagons. Actually, their greatest sin was being lowered more in the rear than in the front. I will not defend this behavior. I’m still a hot rodder at heart, and despise the vehicles being called here ricemobiles. We do need SOME derisive term for them. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/38 "2005-04-14T23:00:29Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > I notice you didn’t answer my question. I also notice that your response is an utter strawman. I said nothing about either of those terms you mentioned. You have a remarkable gift for completely missing the point. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/39 "2005-04-14T23:18:35Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > I think you were insensitive. I think the fact that the phrase bothers people is enough reason not to use it. I don’t understand the point of splitting hairs as to the exact definition of racism. What’s the difference between calling an over-modified car a “ricemobile”, and calling a low-rider a “beanermobile”, or a pimped Cadillac a “watermelon-mobile”? Well, part of the difference is that lowrider cars aren’t made in Juarez and Caddies aren’t made in Harlem. The term refers to the car, not the driver. Another big difference is that your example terms came into popular usage by way of other groups using them as racist insults. Like **kimera** says, the term “ricer” was created by Asians, and as **Bippy** notes, it carries no racist connotations. When I put together the words “black” and “watermelon” in my head, racism is the first thing that springs to mind. Not so much with Asians and rice. Or Cajuns and rice. Or Idahoans and potatoes. People do associate these groups with their foods of choice, but rarely in a racist context. > [@Marley23](#): > > And also because “American” isn’t a race. Actually [it is](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=race), although that definition isn’t used very commonly. ---
**Author:** ![Burnt\_Sugar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@Burnt\_Sugar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burnt_Sugar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248/40 "2005-04-14T23:43:21Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > I think you were insensitive. I think the fact that the phrase bothers people is enough reason not to use it. “You were insensitive” Hmmm. I’ve decided that phrase bothers me. You’d better not use it any more, I guess. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-meanings-of-racism/299248.md?page=3)