I was considering this for GD, but it doesn’t seem so great.
Why aren’t the terms “Riceboy” “Ricer” “Rice rocket” and “Rice racer” and such considered racist?
As I understand it, the terms first came about referring to the penchant for some asian teenagers to ‘soup up’ their asian import vehicles with cosmetic parts, while still leaving the engine and drive train untouched, to make it ‘look fast’ while still being a pathetic excuse for an econobox. Big wheels, hugeamous spoilers, lots of product stickers, bee-in-a-coffee-can exhausts, tiny tires, wide body kids, stupid air scoop bumpers, racing stripes, etc.
The term obviously refers to asians, asian vehicles, and asian diets, even though this pathetic trend has since been extended to include lots of American econoboxes and a huge amount of teenagers from all races and sexes. So why aren’t the terms looked upon as racist?
Does anyone consider the term “ghetto cruiser” to be racist, when referring to a humongeous late 70’s and early 80’s luxury cars, with acres of chrome, electrostatic gold plating, vinyl roofs, hydros, tiny sticking out wire wheels, etched glass, velvet interiors, etc.?
They have all the markings of racist terminology, but none of the stigma. Why not?
I think this site http://www.riceboypage.com/ (then click on “What is a Rice-Boy?” on the left) explains it pretty well. The rest of the site is hilarious, especially the Halls of Shame. The Reader Responses are funny, too.
(Actually, the disclaimer at the bottom of his pages answer the question most succinctly. It reads:
“The term “Rice-Boy” is meant to be a derogatory term. But not racially derogatory. Some people might say that regardless of what this disclaimer says, it makes Asians look bad. Well, I hate to break it to these people but asians are not the only people on this planet who eat rice. Everyone eats rice. White people eat rice. Black people eat rice. Native Americans? They eat rice. Europeans eat rice!! And, if you open your eyes, you might notice that a whole lot of the rice-boys out there aren’t even asian! The “rice” really refers to their cars. It’s not about their race, it’s about their attitude!”)
Having lived through the dirty tricks of Japanese motorcycle manufacturers (back when Harley-Davidson was having serious problems), and American skilled workers were bashing in the windshields of Japanese automobiles, my opinion is that although “rice bike” in itself is not a racist term, it’s more of a derogatory term from a nationalistic perspective; implying that if you ride a rice bike, you aren’t a good American.
Judging from www.riceboypage.com, it looks like domestic automobiles are also considered “ricers”. While the name may originated as a nationalistic insult, that no longer seems to be the case. Now, it just describes cars with lots of “performance-looking” visual improvements, but few or zero actual performance improvements.
I know I know I know I know. RiceBoyPage is great. I’ve been through it a bunch. Beaterz.com is hilarious, too.
But why isn’t the term considered derogatory?!
If someone started calling them “slant-mobiles” or something, that would be racist, no? But “ricer” isn’t…? Both are referring to an “asian trait” as it were.
Because it can’t be derogatory when it’s funny. There are even stickers that say “rice rocket” and “powered by rice” that they themselves put on their cars.
Gangsta rappers and many young black people call themselves “Niggas.” Is that not a racist term?
Sorry, and anyone who knows me knows I hardly kowtow to PC speech control measures, but the term is inherently racist.
Rationalizing it with “Everyone eats rice” is ridiculous… Everyone eats fried chicken and watermellon too. :rolleyes:
Yer pal,
Satan
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I don’t think that the attempted rationalization was that “everyone eats rice,” I think what tiggeril meant was that it was stupid to say so, seeing as how the intended correlation is obvious.
I was much more witty and eloquent in this argument as originally formulated, but SNL came on and I lost my train of thought.
There is also a connection between the econobox engines you get in a shiny Civic and a rice-burner. A lack of power, especially compared to the traditional muscle cars that used to represent sport racing.
On the contrary, riding a Japanese motorcycle means that you are exercising your right to choose. Freedom of Choice is very important to Americans.
Anyway, my Japanese bike is faster, maneuvers better, is smoother and more reliable than a Harley. And IMO, it’s a hell of a lot better looking to boot!
<— That’s me on my bike.