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Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

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Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#411

Post by samkelly »

dragontamer wrote: post #346
jonhohle wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a teen in the early 90s, I distinctly remember significant campaigns against violence represented in TV, movies, video games, and music. There were several congressional hearings demonizing Mortal Kombat, rap music, Doom, etc. Now as a parent with a tween and younger kids, my understanding of the current state of the science is that there still is no overwhelming consensus on increased violence related to media, h…

> 30 years later Mortal Kombat is the number one fighting game franchise of all time Smash Bros and Street Fighter are probably more popular actually. Mortal Kombat really, really sucked between 3 and 7. MK started to get good again around 8, but really it was "Injustice" (which used Mortal Kombat's engine) that made people start taking MK seriously again. MK9 is a modern, competitive fighter. But its not as well res…

> I dunno how Smash Bros became so popular though.

It's accessible (no crazy button combos), fun (at a party or whatever), and not really "violent" in the same way that Mortal Kombat is bloody as hell. Cartoon violence, not realistic simulated violence. I think that's a major driver.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#412

Post by dragonwriter »

Ninjinka wrote: post #380
mattlondon wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Where I work (US-company, but I work outside of US) it is similarly weird to me. We appear to have gone backwards in the past 5-10 years in my view - no longer can you just be "you", but now it feels like we have to be labelled, categorised, and segregated into different groups. We now have to make a big deal and a big song-and-dance to highlight our differences and define what our ethnic backgrounds are (app…

You just gave the argument against critical race theory.

That argument does have nothing at all to do with the content of critical race theory...which is pretty much exactly like most arguments I’ve seen “against” it recently. Probably has something to do with all the right-wing rage mongering about that term being attached to things that have nothing to do with CRT, and about keeping teaching it out of domains where no one is even interested in putting it.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#413

Post by tptacek »

brodouevencode wrote: post #256
ethbr0 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on where parent is from. There are a lot of relatively monolithic countries from an ethnic perspective. To the broader point, I think what Uzo is talking about is "representation." Which doesn't just mean "some type of person on the screen." It means the full diversity of experiences and aspirations of that type of person... on the screen. Living Single isn't Friends with African Americans. It's African Am…

> It's African Americans put in the situation of Friends, and then living their own similar-but-unique story in that situation, informed by cultural differences. (IMHO, it's also a helluva lot better of a show) Living Single was a good show because, unlike Friends, it was actually funny. > That kind of... stopped. Once TV got homogenized and distributors realized that African American viewers would watch shows about…

Building bridges between communities is good, but it isn't the singular goal of storytelling. There are plenty of stories to tell that aren't wrapped tightly around the mission of making Black people seem cheerful and unthreatening to America, just like there are plenty of stories to tell about about Irish people that are about the complexity of Irish people just as human beings with human stories that happen to feature distinctive aspects of Irish culture.

I'll watch a movie set in Scotland just because I think Scottish culture is super interesting, regardless of whether that movie aims to make Scotland seem charming or "well integrated" with my own culture.

But the thing is, nobody (at least in America) expects a show about Scottish people to shoulder the burden of holding up a bridge between Scotland and the world. But there is a sense (at least in America) that the cultural success of Black stories is to be benchmarked against the Cosby Show. Which is weird, when you think about it.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#414

Post by menzoic »

f6v wrote: post #2

“X for black people” sounds so bizarre to me(non-American). The cultural divide between the people must be insane.

Its simple really, the cultures in America are very diverse, which may not be the case in your country.

Indian Americans regularly consume music and foods that most other Americans don't.

Hispanic Americans mostly are bilingual with Spanish/English. There are more spanish only speaking hispanics than there are english only speaking.

America has a history of racists laws (goverment) and bylaws (corporations, institutions, universities) created directly to disenfranchise non-whites that shaped present day distribution of races in different states, neighborhoods, socioeconomic status, cultural values and more.

As recently as the 60s, blacks were expressly banned from many colleges so in order to fill the gap, HBCU (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) were created because black people had no good options.

Most media in America is created by whites and the stories are based largely on white American culture. The Indian and Chinese Americans are another group that have a very hard time finding tv shows and movies that resonate with their culture. BlackOakTV looks like an attempt to offer more content representing the real differences in black American culture written from the perspective of those who actually understand it.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#415

Post by xdennis »

raclage wrote: post #307
lettergram wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes the country has lost its mind. They’re reconstituting segregation in the U.S. at the moment

Can you give an example? I’m assuming you’re not referring to this Netflix competitor as an example of something equivalent to making it illegal for non-whites to eat at certain restaurants.

Subscribing to a service is not mandatory, so not comparable, but there are case of re-segregation in the US such as white-only race training sessions at work or the whole Evergreen hullabaloo.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#416

Post by EnlightenedBro »

Bellamy wrote: post #387
liotier wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm typical French and my daughters' mother is African... I had to explain to my daughters the whole concept of race categories and I struggled because it seemed ridiculous and aberrant to them - it is alien to their multicultural daily life. They would laugh at having to chose between being black or white. I don't understand how Americans tolerate being categorized this way. My category: "Other" - always.

Brilliant! This made me happy. I also sometimes forget that there is actually this thing about whites versus blacks versus whatever colored people.

Anyone who notices race is the racist in the room.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#417

Post by tekromancr »

vorpalhex wrote: post #313
warent wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that white Americans don't have the same American experience as black Americans, which is where the divide comes from and it creates another culture. It's been getting a lot better, but there are still two legal systems, two education systems, etc. My perspective as a white man is that when black people create something for themselves like this, it's reclaiming the power. Like how they use the N word w…

If you feel that there are two education systems, eg one for Black people and one for White people, aren't you simply reinforcing that by having more segmented services? Separate but equal was a dismal failure in the US. I don't understand why it deserves a second attempt.

I think you may be horrified to learn that American schools are still segregated

https://www.epi.org/publication/schools-are-still-segregated...

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#418

Post by skyde »

Joeri wrote: post #366
vorpalhex wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you feel that there are two education systems, eg one for Black people and one for White people, aren't you simply reinforcing that by having more segmented services? Separate but equal was a dismal failure in the US. I don't understand why it deserves a second attempt.

There are apps that cater to comic book fans, are they promoting the comic nerd divide? What is wrong with a service that caters to a content niche? Separate but equal is only a bad thing when people cannot choose which of the two systems they select into. A black person can choose to get regular netflix instead of this niche service.

it’s bad because it create a bubble. It’s like the instagram for republican (parler). It turned into a social network for dangerous extremist very fast and is one of the reason the capital got attacked

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#419

Post by rootusrootus »

werber wrote: post #40
josteink wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are only a “minority” because someone decided to come up with a way (race) to divide people into groups where one group is bound to end up smaller, and somehow claim that division is of significant importance. IMO the solution to that problem is definitely not to reinforce that division.

The United States is 76.3% white ( https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219 ), it's not a division it's a number, there are just literally less people of color in the country, a minority of the population.

60% if you exclude Hispanics. Which, of course, raises its own questions about categorizations and who gets to make the definitions.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#420

Post by yummybear »

sokoloff wrote: post #37
f6v wrote: post #2

“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:…

Yet "nightclubs for white people" is incredibly offensive.
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