The Wikipedia definition seems to indicate it has origins as a racist term and I’ve never understood why unix users have adopted this terms instead of something benign like “themes” or “theming” which I remember being in use long before I ever heard “rice”. So what gives? Why use “rice” instead of “theme”?
Any word CAN be, but in this case you have a group of people telling you it IS hurtful to them. Those aren’t the same thing.