I feel like this encourages a divide.
How does it "encourage" a divide rather than just represent a divide that exists?
Edit: This feels a bit like the idea that showing children stories about gay people would somehow "turn them gay".
Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
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Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
#62Here's an idea - Build a tool that helps users discover black content on the internet rather than furthering the divide by building a racially segregated platform.
Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
#63“X for black people” sounds so bizarre to me(non-American). The cultural divide between the people must be insane.
This was my first thought as well, an I'm American. Word to OP, this is a catchy title but I would be really careful going out of the gate with that kind of slogan.
> This was my first thought as well, an I'm American.
However, X for white people is often the default case and is left unsaid. As an American you should be well versed in this. No one is saying that non-black people cannot watch the content, the implication is that the content it is tailored for black people.
Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
#64I'm curious about the visual design - if you're catering exclusively to black people how does that influence your design decisions?
Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
#65“X for black people” sounds so bizarre to me(non-American). The cultural divide between the people must be insane.
I suspect you are from a fairly small homogeneous country. It hard to understand the racial dynamics of a very large diverse country if you haven't lived there.
Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
#66Out of curiosity - you mention that in the 90's there were a number of TV shows featuring prominent black characters but there isn't anymore. Why did you decide the solution to that problem was to create a black-focused distribution platform, instead of production company focused on creating new shows of similar quality to those in the 90's - has something changed about the market that would prevent shows like those…
I would imagine it's got a lot to do with domain knowledge. Setting up a streaming service is a very different proposition from setting up a production company. These are presumably tech people, not TV people. Besides, I bet setting up a production company is a few orders of magnitude more expensive than this.
Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seconding this. And imagine the outrage if someone had made “X for white people”. There’d be riots in streets. The bizarreness and racist double standard behind this is just astounding seen from the outside.
I hear this argument a lot and people use examples like BET and black churches. But take a step back and look at what led to black-specific things. MTV hardly played black artists. White churches excluded and actively attacked black Christians. White has been the default in America for a long time. Seems like that's slowly starting to change but until it does, there's going to be a need for things specifically target…
You wrote: >>
I saw this interview recently: >
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZGiVzIr8Qg
It blew me away. He is so on point!
Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
#68“X for black people” sounds so bizarre to me(non-American). The cultural divide between the people must be insane.
BET wasn’t offensive me. Telemundo wasn’t offensive to me. Nickelodeon wasn’t offensive to me. Food Network wasn’t offensive to me. Serving targeted programming to an identifiable minority audience seems like a perfectly reasonable business (and social) proposition. I don’t know that “Netflix for Black People” will test well, but it seems perfectly fine to me. [white middle-aged male if context matters]. Edit to add:…
My only problem with marketing "X for black people" is that marketing "X for white people" isn't socially acceptable.
Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
#69I can't help but feel like everyone commenting here read the headline, brushed straight past the lengthy explanation and went directly to outrage in the comment box. This is a streaming service set up to elevate content by black creators, to make up for the fact that the mainstream media under-represents those people. I'm struggling to see the outrage on a cultural level and on a startup level I can absolutely imagin…
My favorite part of it is that insofar as the objectors identify themselves, they're (of course) white. From the OPs description, although they don't say so explicitly, it's clear that they're Black. Long history¹ in this country of white folks telling Black folks what's appropriate for Black folks to say or do.
1. And let's not fool ourselves thinking that because I've used the word "history" that it's not still very much the case.
Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people
#70Out of curiosity - you mention that in the 90's there were a number of TV shows featuring prominent black characters but there isn't anymore. Why did you decide the solution to that problem was to create a black-focused distribution platform, instead of production company focused on creating new shows of similar quality to those in the 90's - has something changed about the market that would prevent shows like those…
This was my thought as well. I'm sure there is demand for this content, but is it a strong enough demand to pay for yet another streaming service?