Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 898 posts

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

#431

Post by dathinab »

f6v wrote: post #2

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

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

Is more or less what I thought, (with the difference that I thought "Y for Z people").

So I can't judge if it's necessary or makes sense, but from the point of the author it seems to be the case.

Which is sad as black people are not a small minority in the US and so I would expect more representation of them.

I mean Netflix (or any thing similar) should be "for everyone" featuring a diverse mix at least similar to reality (or maybe slightly more diverse (1) ).

(1): For minorities in a country representation with a mix "like reality" would mean they would not get much representation as just a number of content thingies would represent them. So increasing the degree of diversity above it is I think a good idea.

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

#432

Post by [deleted] »

api wrote: post #402
skyde wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

which unequal law? Is will smith victim of a law that a white actor would not?

The effects of entrenched discrimination in the US fade quite a bit when you hit upper middle class or above. They don't vanish entirely, but you have a lot more of a cushion and generally can avoid the problem areas. You can also fight back legally if necessary.

[deleted]

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

#433

Post by [deleted] »

LordHumungous wrote: post #329
f6v wrote: post #2

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

Yes, Black Americans have their own culture from music to literature to TV shows like Good Times and the Jeffersons. This is not seen as a bad thing here, it has produced many great things.

[deleted]

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

#434

Post by Veen »

tptacek wrote: post #31
josteink wrote: post #5

Earlier 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.

Huh? They do make TV for white people. There's Polish TV, there's Russian TV, there's German TV, name it. It's rude to troll on someone's Launch thread.

Do you think there aren't Black Germans and Asian Russians?

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

#436

Post by RHSeeger »

werber wrote: post #139
RHSeeger wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. In my opinion... If it's "focuses on content for ", that's great. Minorities tend to underrepresented and trying to address that balance by creating more for them is all bonus. If it's "excludes all but ", I am not a fan; I thin it causes resentment. The ability to have a group that allows but not , but not have a group that allows but not , is _wrong_ in my mind. Admittedly, having a group that allows bo…

I understand the point you're trying to make, but unless they're excluding white people from subscribing I have a hard time accepting it. An industry that comes to mind is haircare, there are tons of brands and a long history of companies that explictly cater to black hair ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker , is a great person to look into ). I can buy products from those companies, despite their focu…

> but unless they're excluding white people from subscribing I have a hard time accepting it

My apologies; I must not have been clear. Nothing here is an example of something I have an issue with. I was merely pointing out that having "X for " can go two ways; promote the minority, or exclude the majority. The former is great, the later is not.

I wasn't, in any way, trying to indicate the post is doing the wrong thing. As others have noted, it sounds like a Netflix-ey version of BET which, as far as I know, hasbeen nothing but positive.

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

#437

Post by gotostatement »

unmole wrote: post #205

I am not American but the overwhelming majority of the media I consume is American. Given the near hegemony of American popular culture, that is likely true for millions of non-Americans. All these people consume American content because they find it enjoyable and at some level relatable despite living in very different countries and not speaking English as their first language. At the end of the day, the human condi…

its not too hard to find people explaining that they do, and why they do (just google "representation matters" and im sure you'll find a lot). sounds like youre not open to learning about other peoples experience, or you simply dismiss it as whiny

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

#438

Post by dragonwriter »

f6v wrote: post #2

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

> “X for black people” sounds so bizarre to me(non-American).

“Black” in America is, confusingly to lots of people, the name of an ethnic/cultural group formed by centuries shared experience of kidnapping, deliberate eradication of prior cultural identities, deliberate ongoing disruption of the family unit, slavery (and after slavery de jure discrimination, and after that substantial ongoing public and private discrimination in fact) to which the racial group also labelled “black” was subjected in America.

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

#439

Post by at_a_remove »

vorpalhex wrote: post #330
at_a_remove wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not cultural sharing now, it's appropriation . See also the endless monologues about dreadlocks.

Remember that twitter isn't real life. For every college freshmen tweeting about the sushi counter being cultural appropriation, 98% of people disagree. Just because someone is loud and inflammatory does not mean their views are widely held.

Unfortunately, it isn't confined to Twitter. Now a family friend is giving her kid crap over wanting dreads.

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

#440

Post by nickdothutton »

f6v wrote: post #2

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

So far as I can tell the whole “melting pot” experiment didn’t really work, absent powerful enough unifying vision/motivation/ideals and the cultures were immiscible. So now they’ve gone the multicultural route. I’m interested to see where this ends up for the US.
Post reply on HN