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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

It "helps" by satisfying a market need for a space for Black creators to tell Black stories without shouldering a burden to translate, soften, or attenuate that culture for other audiences, as would be the expectation on a mass media cable channel. It's not complicated; venues like this serve all sorts of ethnicities.

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I think like many have pointed out, there's a messaging issue. I want to feel like I'm welcome, even though I'm not culturally black, to consume content created by black creators on a platform that helps promote that content. I like k-pop, I like Bollywood, I like Sister Deborah, I generally enjoy experiencing other culture. I don't need attenuation. One of the strengths of America is the capacity for cultural exchange. "Netflix for black people" does not achieve that. It makes me feel unwelcome on the platform and triggers angst related to my opposition to the idea of asserting ownership over and further segregating sub-cultures being part of the solution space. If BlackOak is truly trying to promote black cultural exchange, then don't use exclusive language. I really have no problem with a production company like BET geared at being a space to promote a given subculture. Personally, If I was the founder, I'd welcome this type of feedback even if it feels tired because the appropriate messaging may be integral to the success of the venture.

Edit: Want to also point out that in practice we don't seem to attenuate messaging in black pop culture. It's some of the most explicit sexual and sometimes violent content in existence and it appears all over radio, TV, and the internet. I'm not saying it's exclusively that, but it doesn't seem to suffer from expectation that it be attenuated "for white people". If that were happening I'd immediately be on the side of any effort to stop censoring it because I believe in freedom of expression.

> I think like many have pointed out, there’s a messaging issue. I want to feel like I’m welcome, even though I’m not culturally black, to consume content created by black creators on a platform that helps promote that content.

I don’t see a messaging problem. I see you positing a different unmet need than the one that firm here has identified and is addressing. Which is fine, but “Netflix for people who want Black-created content but get icky feeling about products marketed to Black audiences” is, I suspect, a much narrower niche, and certainly a different niche, than BlackOakTV seems interested in serving, whose existence (to the extent it exists) does nothing to invalidate the niche BlackOakTV is trying to address or their efforts to do so.

> Edit: Want to also point out that in practice we don't seem to attenuate messaging in black pop culture. It's some of the most explicit sexual and sometimes violent content in existence and it appears all over radio, TV, and the internet. I'm not saying it's exclusively that, but it doesn't seem to suffer from expectation that it be attenuated "for white people".

Why do you think that this messaging is what you associate most with black pop culture? Attenuated messaging does not have to be universal. Imagine if white pop culture was almost exclusively promoted as Britney Spears et al., Dumb and Dumber, and slasher flicks. Is that an accurate portrayal, or a curated subset that projects a certain image?

I didn’t say those examples are exclusive. I simply said there exists non-attenuated content.

I didn’t either. Your phrasing suggest that it’s mostly violent and sexual.

I don’t think I was suggesting that.

Thank you for stating this. I was just about to write what you said.

The fact that what he/she associates with "black" culture is so negative - and doesn't seem to stop to critically analyse that - but accepts it as "normal".

At the same time, he/she doesn't understand why people from that community might want to create something for themselves - where (for once), they are the gate keepers of their own content (aka "writing their own narratives").

They're not trying to promote Black cultural exchange. That's not the point. Rather, argumentative message board nerds are telling them that's what they need to be doing, rather than serving the customers they really need to love them. They would do well not to take that advice, not least because it is not, in the main, well-intentioned.

I'm not sure what you're suggesting about my intentions or those of people giving honest feedback here. If BlackOak is only interested in black viewers, then good luck. They simply won't be getting my money or attention, then, since I don't identify as culturally black. Personally I don't see why their (or any) platform needs to be exclusive to further their mission. If I made a "Neflix for white people", what do you think the response would be?

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.

> 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.

Yes, I am. I’m not asking for content that caters to me. You don’t have to white wash your content in order to be inclusive. You don’t have to burn any narrative fuel on fragile whites. That would be awful.

I’m asking to be invited to participate. Not on my terms.. on theirs. For me it’s a subtle but significant and important difference.

They should ignore you for now. They're not going to build a business on getting fussy message board nerds to watch Black content. No part of their message should have anything to do with making you feel more welcome, or really feel anything at all.

Then we shall see if they find success. We clearly have different hypotheses in how they should approach their messaging. That’s fine.

Take a look at https://allblk.tv/. Inclusively, yet unapologetically, black. It’s not that hard and really we’re not just talking about appeasing message board nerds here. If that was the case they really shouldn't listen to anybody on this forum, now should they?

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