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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

#741

Post by wolverine876 »

thegrimmest wrote: post #716
wolverine876 wrote: post #634

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to tell how serious you are, based on the first couple of words, but that tactic seems to have failed. Racism is widespread and, according to some data and personal experience, has broadened and deepened in the last few years. If we want something to change, we'll have to act. African-Americans are only ~1/7th of the US population - not enough to make changes themselves.

Oh really? Black americans are totally disempowered to make any changes at all? I couldn't disagree more, and object to your denial of agency to these people.

If I'd said that, I'd agree with your response. Have a great day!

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

#742

Post by aeoleonn »

f6v wrote: post #2

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

yep, it's quite silly. many americans recognize how silly it is. it's the dualistic messaging of mutually exclusive A & B:

A. We're all equal! B. We need something special, because we're different!

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

#743

Post by thegrimmest »

wolverine876 wrote: post #740
thegrimmest wrote: post #696

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why do they need your approval? They clearly don't. I'm just pointing out that "X for Black People" seems to perpetuate and deepen racial tension and division, rather than helping alleviate them. It's moving the needle in the wrong direction, much like a nuclear arms race would. > The racists and systematic racism are the overwhelming cause This is not at all clear, and is hideously complicated (see below). To what…

>> The racists and systematic racism are the overwhelming cause > This is not at all clear This crosses the line into absurdity. Have a great day!

A bit strange you're not even willing to entertain other causes, or elaborate a even little as to why this is absurd, no? This stuff isn't exactly universally agreed on, academically speaking.

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

#744

Post by aeoleonn »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #391
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…

> The problem is that white Americans don't have the same American experience as black Americans This implies that there is a "white experience" and a "black experience" which is simply false and subtly racist. This is kind of the point of the parent's post--we've gone from understanding that variance within a race far exceeds variance between races to a mistaken belief that different races have such different experi…

Personally, I no longer attempt to try to understand left-ist talking points on race. It's typically an ignorant, naive, and irrational perspective. Hence it's a waste of time to try to understand.

Simply too much mutually exclusive duality, such as "We are all equal. But my group specifically-- we're different and we need special things and special treatment!"

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

#745

Post by wolverine876 »

snakeboy wrote: post #694
wolverine876 wrote: post #622

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "The melatonin in their skin" explicitly shaped many aspects of law, society, and culture in the US up until the 60s I see it regularly today, as African-Americans and many other people commonly say. We can recall that overt racism is practiced in certain political groups which have expanded in popularity. Research shows that racist attacks have greatly increased over the last few years. Regarding the law, many of…

I wasn't trying to imply racism ended in the 60s, to be clear! I intentionally avoided discussing modern politics in order to make a stronger (albeit more limited) argument, by emphasizing explicit legal discrimination. Even if someone doesn't believe in systemic racism, it's not a point of debate that black people alive today were explicitly persecuted under the law based on the color of their skin.

Ah, that makes more sense.

I understand what you are doing now and that used to be my approach. Now, I feel that it just allows the denialist rhetoric to perpetuate. I'm not even going to call it a myth because it's such obvious nonsense, I believe even to the people that say it - it's just push-back, a tactic.

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

#746

Post by dcow »

wolverine876 wrote: post #739
dcow wrote: post #706

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As we know well, many racists use conceivably non-racist criticism to find ways to denigrate African-Americans, so it's important to be careful and sensitive to that. This, of course, deeply depends on your definition of racist/racism. If I criticize some behavior that happens to be more prevalent among black americans than other americans, to some people that simple fact makes that critique, and thus me, a racist.…

> If I criticize some behavior that happens to be more prevalent among black americans than other americans, to some people that simple fact makes that critique, and thus me, a racist. You'll have to talk to those people, whoever they are. What I'm saying is that actual racist behavior often uses arguably non-racist arguments to attack African-Americans. It's an obvious and well-used tactic. > No, they're not. Hate s…

You think some boss reads a forum comment and then goes and fires their minority workers the next day because “hate speech”? I’d say that bigoted boss is the problem. Seems like a stretch to me..

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

#747

Post by tptacek »

dcow wrote: post #738
tptacek wrote: post #728

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anything about your intentions, but this whole thread is a good illustration of, again, something YC tells people all the time: start by making something that a few people love, rather than something that everyone will like a little bit, or, worse, just not object to.

Well I don't disagree there. Maybe I've just spoken sloppily. I wish BlackOak success in their mission. And I hope at some point I can be part of their vision for audience. Everything else I've said can simply be considered feedback, which I think the founder solicited in the OP.

You easily can be part of their envisioned audience. You just have to be interested in video content that is unapologetically centered in Black culture, and that isn't burning any of its narrative fuel trying to make that cultural background feel familiar or especially palatable to other cultures. I think that sounds pretty neat, if they can pull it off with good content.

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

#748

Post by thegrimmest »

wolverine876 wrote: post #741
thegrimmest wrote: post #716

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh really? Black americans are totally disempowered to make any changes at all? I couldn't disagree more, and object to your denial of agency to these people.

If I'd said that, I'd agree with your response. Have a great day!

"African-Americans are only ~1/7th of the US population - not enough to make changes themselves"

- wolverine876

I'm saying it is enough. It's always enough.

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

#749

Post by Uzo0312 »

spywaregorilla wrote: post #689
Uzo0312 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do want this to be a global company. Obviously, we have to start somewhere, so the U.S., where we are, is a logical first step, but we already have content from outside of our region, and hope to expand that greatly in the months and years to come! And yes, our site needs a lot of work in terms of the meta data. We're working on getting that filled in across the site as much as possible. Hopefully, the free episod…

It seems like it will be extremely difficult to cater to the American Black market and assume those interests carryover to other populations.

I wouldn't think of anything that we're planning to do from an internationalization point as being any different from what Netflix has done spanning across the globe and cultures.

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

#750

Post by tptacek »

risky_opinions wrote: post #668
blackgirldev wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People working for a mainstream service like Netflix are wrapped in maintaining their job and catering to white people. Having a separate streaming service with curators from the Black community means more opportunity to express unpopular ideas. This means less Harriet Tubman bios and more current culture/expression. edit: I should add that having watched a few shows like Jack & Jill (which I had never heard of until…

I'm White. I'm not racist. I agree with your opinions of wanting more black stories. The fact so many people are capitalizing black and lower casing White is such a deliberate act of divisiveness. Stop doing this. You're turning moderate people into enemies. Everything is being turned into race and division to the point it's making my Asian partner and a lot of her friends in the Asian community mad at the black comm…

You capitalize "Black" for the same reason you capitalize "Spanish" or "Polish". It's a distinctive ethnicity and culture; it isn't simply a broad description of people sharing a skin color. You can read John McWhorter --- no friend to wokeism --- talking about how much better capital-B Black is as a description than any of the other weird terms we've come up with in the last 20 years.

Nobody anywhere on this thread is freaking out when people fail to capitalize "black". The people who do capitalize it are simply making it unambiguous that they are referring to American Black culture.

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