The removal of the bran from rice does indeed come with the loss of certain nutrients, but it is still not purely devoid of them as you imply, and again, not at all comparable to alcohol. White rice still comes with selenium, manganese and niacin [1], which by definition would not make white rice empty calories. Of course you will have deficiencies if your diet is formed mostly of white rice, and that is why it is expected from everyone to have half a brain and make rice a component of a varied diet; brown rice does not escape from this fact either. Keep in mind in this thread we are addressing people in the first world with a wide accessibility to varied foods, and not empoverished third world farmers.
- Fukagawa, N. K., & Ziska, L. H. (2019). Rice: Importance for Global Nutrition. Journal of nutritional science and vitaminology, 65(Supplement), S2–S3.