691–700 of 898 posts
I'm not black but I enjoyed those shows in the 90s too. They were inclusive. Your focus on race is exclusive. It's a "Black space" and I get the feeling I'm not welcome. Maybe you're just trying to target a niche, but I think you're limiting your potential market, and, frankly, helping to further divide our society on racial lines.
Offtopic, but not being from the USA I have real trouble understanding the concept of "blackness" in that country. What does it mean, exactly, to be black? Is it a genetic, a phenotypic or a cultural thing? How is it determined whether mixed-race people are black? And what about trans-racially adopted children? Does a black kid adopted by a white family become white? Does a white kid adopted by a black family become…
How does your country fare with its perception of Romani "Gypsies"
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If they're a few generations removed from their Nigerian or Jamaican ancestors, they probably don't have strong ties to their home countries' cultures. This seems true of most Americans whose families emigrated 3+ generations ago. "The melatonin in their skin" explicitly shaped many aspects of law, society, and culture in the US up until the 60s, which is still in living memory, so I don't think it's that surprising…
> "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 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.
I'm not black but I enjoyed those shows in the 90s too. They were inclusive. Your focus on race is exclusive. It's a "Black space" and I get the feeling I'm not welcome. Maybe you're just trying to target a niche, but I think you're limiting your potential market, and, frankly, helping to further divide our society on racial lines.
Why the down vote?
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> United States society has been problematically lumping people together based on skin tone Wouldn't the best solution to this problem represent a rejection of such categorization? Wouldn't that necessarily exclude "X for Black People" in the same way it excludes "X for White People"? I'd like to live in a society where skin tone is no more important than hair color. Surely the best way to get there is to de-emphasiz…
>> United States society has been problematically lumping people together based on skin tone > Wouldn't the best solution to this problem represent a rejection of such categorization? Wouldn't that necessarily exclude "X for Black People" in the same way it excludes "X for White People"? I'd like to live in a society where skin tone is no more important than hair color. Surely the best way to get there is to de-empha…
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 degree are cultural practices prevalent in (some) black neighborhoods responsible for outcomes?
[1] https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/empirical_anal...
[2] https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv19.pdf
[3] https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/116/32/15877.full.pdf
> Again, it's not; you call it double-speak.
Yes but as I said, its existence shouldn't take frank discussion of the table.
> How do you know if that individual 'maintains and perpetuates' the culture
I'm no cultural anthropologist, but if an individual engages in a cultural practice that they learned from the cultural group they are a member of, then they can be seen to be perpetuating that practice.
> And if they do, what about you and I therefore maintaining and perpetuating widespread racism, which is common among white people
It's quite simple: I don't engage in the practice of racial discrimination or bigotry, in spite of the fact that it was a common practice among my family and community. I have therefore identified a cultural practice which I consider wrong (or just plain dumb), and consciously chosen not to engage in the practice and not perpetuate it. I am thus an active participant in the evolution and stewardship of my culture. I expect the same from everyone else.
> Why is it so important to you to criticize other people's business? How about we focus on our own conduct and its consequences?
These are not mutually exclusive. I'm not aware of any issues with my conduct. However given this topic's overall popularity, polarization and the aforementioned problematically overloaded terminology, I find it extremely beneficial that these conversations be had in whatever forums can support them. To me, this is what depolarization looks like.
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It takes significant historical events to shed the consequences of past significant historical events. The past is exactly that but that doesn't mean we can escape it. People with half a brain know and understand this but (if I'm understanding you right) there's also a lot of using it as a club in these types of discussions. We'll never get away from that without some significant shift in the collective frames of ref…
The apparently simplicity of marketing new Cosby Shows in the mass media is the whole premise of this startup; it's "Netflix for Black people" because the bet is that Black people will appreciate a space in the media where they can simply tell stories centered in Black culture which aren't freighted with the need to bridge cultural divides. There is a time and a place for bridges and also for enclosures. You are cert…
EDIT: short of a Tyler Perry or Oprah Winfrey jumping on board (someone that has significant momentum), the only other way this survives is with an acquisition. Netflix would be primed to pick this up as the start of a black-interest channel within Netflix itself. If this is a real market Netflix will either buy them or start their own.
And just a note here - I care nothing about the racial aspects of it but do like it when companies and people win and thrive. I want to see that here too but I think they're lopping off too many potential customers.
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In the US, the vast majority of black people have descended from the enslaved Americans who have been in the US for hundreds of years. When people say "black culture" that's what they are referring to. Not that recent immigrants from Jamaica and Nigeria are from the same culture. There's the further concept that due to systemic racism, Jamaican and Nigerian culture will blend into the larger black culture than the la…
Ok I think I get it. Maybe more “African American” than “Black”
Congrats on the launch, but you are attacking a difficult market, with a strong 'political' risk/factor as we can see in this thread. If I remember correctly there was a similar startup in YC S15 ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9903229 ) that shutdown 2 years after ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15292534 , https://techpoint.africa/2017/09/22/afrostream-shut-down/ ). In streaming content is king and ove…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The apparently simplicity of marketing new Cosby Shows in the mass media is the whole premise of this startup; it's "Netflix for Black people" because the bet is that Black people will appreciate a space in the media where they can simply tell stories centered in Black culture which aren't freighted with the need to bridge cultural divides. There is a time and a place for bridges and also for enclosures. You are cert…
I don't disagree with this. But as I said they've alienated a very, very large pool of potential customers. Good luck to them, but they could have gone bigger. EDIT: short of a Tyler Perry or Oprah Winfrey jumping on board (someone that has significant momentum), the only other way this survives is with an acquisition. Netflix would be primed to pick this up as the start of a black-interest channel within Netflix its…