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Comment by fatman | Hacker News Reader

Maybe it's my white privilege talking, but I don't see the racial angle here. Would "Corporations" be any less inclined to appropriate and profit from the creations of white teens? Would the moral wrong of the taking be any less egregious? Sometimes bad behavior directed at minorities is just generally bad behavior and not racism.

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The article is implying that corporations take from black teens specifically because they want to seem "black cool" (such as the case with IHOP using "on fleek" in marketing). In America a lot of what's considered "hip" has come from black culture- jazz, hip hop/rap, clothing, slang etc.

A majority of people who listen to and consume rap music are white. In the 90's, tons of white people wore FUBU (a clothing brand whose name is an acronym for "For Us By Us").

So I don't think the article is only getting at corporations stealing black teens' viral content, but corporations taking ideas from black culture in general, with viral content being a specific instance.

The problem is that bad behavior is usually more acceptable and tolerated when directed at the vulnerable and disenfranchised.

I am currently homeless. I face a lot of classicism for being open about that online. The cherry on top: When folks tell me the shitty treatment I get is my fault for being open about it. "No one knows your dog online if you don't tell them." In other words, the prejudice is a-okay. If I want to be treated like a person, it is on me to hide my status.

I have reason to believe this approximates the experiences of a great many other groups that are de facto second class citizens.

What kind of world do we live in where a counterargument has to be prefaced with "maybe it's my white privilege talking"

Seriously, what does your race have to do with how right or wrong you are?

He's indicating that he may be lacking some details because he's not a part of the population being discussed.

I assume that when someone posts "IANAL, but..." you also get upset about it?

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