171–180 of 898 posts
Here'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.
Racial segregation is a stretch. They do not block you from subscribing if you're not black.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You say this like the Hallmark channel or Lifetime don't exist.
I am not familiar with those channels since I'm not american, but I am fairly certain that they are not marketed as "for white people".
In the sense that shows and movies seem like the result of endless series of meetings, where anything that anyone might object to is censored and removed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You say this like the Hallmark channel or Lifetime don't exist.
I am not familiar with those channels since I'm not american, but I am fairly certain that they are not marketed as "for white people".
To echo what others have said, though, if you are not a member of a minority, it can be difficult to understand how affirming and wonderful it can feel to experience, just for a brief moment and even if by fantasy, to exist as if you were the majority. For example, I am gay, and here are some common thought processes that go through my head that are basically completely foreign to straight people:
1. When I walk down the street with my partner of 20 years, deciding to hold hands is not something I can just do spontaneously. It is essentially a political act when I do it, and so my first thoughts always go to (a) am I safe and (b) do I feel like making a political statement right now.
2. When I travel, the first thing I think about is whether I am going to a place that is accepting of gays. I'm just too old to want to deal with anti-gay attitudes when I'm supposed to be enjoying myself on vacation.
3. When I introduce myself to new people, I do a mental calculation as to whether I feel like mentioning my partner and thus outing myself in that situation. Again, it's always a conscious calculation, where it almost never is for straight people.
So the first time I visited the Castro (a well-known gay neighborhood in San Francisco), it was kind of magical to me, to just walk down the street and have people assume I was gay before assuming I was straight, and it was really the first time I could completely relax and feel like what it was like to be a member of the majority.
So that's what things like BET, LogoTV, Telemundo, etc. are really about, it's about actually feeling like you are the focus of attention for a short time.
I'm a huge fan of other cultures and think they need to be celebrated because they make all of our lives richer..but I wish there would be less animosity towards white people. 'White culture' creates all of the countries that people from every other country are fleeing to, or trying to immigrate to. White people created Democracy, Checks and Balances, overwhelming amount of the technology that makes our lives great,…
Best of luck in your endeavor. I don’t personally have the guts to take on a space where it seems to me like Netflix could decide to squash you at any moment by outbidding for the catalog of work by other creators. I wonder to what extent that was also true with BET, which is an obviously extremely successful outcome. (Maybe I’m just chicken.) Again, best of luck; this seems like a really smart idea and has a team th…
One, Netflix has to worry about competing with a lot of other major players, while also being profitable going forward, so they really can't over-spend on an audience that is likely underrepresented among their customer base relative to the global population.
And two, we think focus is big. Serving just one audience means we can do more things with content and product that Netflix couldn't do because black people are a small percentage of their base (not to mention the possible alienation as evidenced by this thread). Media is probably the industry where serving "niches" has proven the most worthwhile. We hope to follow in that trend!
This just makes me sad. We seem to be returning to a segregated society with separate services for every ethnic group. It’s not the “melting pot” idea of America that I was raised with, where everyone contributes their own unique culture to a unified American whole. That was the brilliance of American identity, which is now fracturing at an accelerated rate.
It feels like people (early on in this thread) are more offended because of the chosen phrasing in the title? Are those same people offended by BET? With the accompanying explanation by Uzo0312, how is this racist? "For black people" does not mean "Not for any other people". I want to watch great content and if Blackoak produces it, I'll watch it like I would with any other provider. The fact that they'll encourage a…
Celebrating a culture is not racist.
You shouldn’t say “Netflix for black people” because Netflix is for black people already. Moreover if I start selling boxed water called “water for black people” with black stories on the carton, I’m unnecessarily limiting my audience (even alienating some) just via my poor choice of name.
Ironically, some of those alienated are going to be black people themselves - such naming will certainly stir memories of the segregation era, don’t you think?