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Comment by diebeforei485 | Hacker News Reader

They shouldn't shy away from controversial content for fear of offending people.

They will of course, and I think few people actually have a problem with the general principle of shying away from controversial content if you drill into the specifics. For instance, I think fairly few would be surprised or offended at Netflix refusing to stream Triumph of the Will.

Their core demographic is offended though.

Is it? If this easily offended demographic were really so big the execs at Netflix are not so stupid to alienate them. The more mundane reason is this demographic is very tiny though they may be very vocal.

It’s vocal, for sure, but it’s not that tiny. You can’t simply dismiss the concerns of 10-30% (+ allies) of your potential audience.

You can if it undermines and alienates the other 90-70%.

I'm not suggesting Nf should. But one persons offended is another's appealing. The volume of a voice is independent of its depth & breadth.

Who is this 10-30%? There aren't that many trans people. Who are you referring to?

I'm not offended by their content, I just think the quality declined faster than they've raised prices. That's why I cancelled. Most of their original content is about as exciting and predictable as talking to a GPT-3 bot.

Yeah, I'm getting pretty close. I use it barely enough to justify the cost. We'll see after Russian doll season 2

It's good for engagement. Get everyone talking about the latest Netflix controversy. Release Cuties and piss off all the stupid uptight conservatives who don't understand it's just a coming-of-age story, then release a Chappelle comedy special and upset all the right-thinking leftists who don't understand it's actually pro-trans.

Then no matter whether you go to get your daily Two Minutes Hate in, all you see is NETFLIX NETFLIX NETFLIX NETFLIX NETFLIX everywhere.

They shouldn’t be surprised if their userbase fades away, taking its stock price with it, then.

Again I see no evidence this is the case. Why would they self destruct like that? Their recent woes don’t have anything to do with “offending” people though some would like to believe that to push a narrative.

Negative PR — ineffectively countered — for Cuties and Dave Chapelle will have long term effects on customer and employee sentiment. They will see the problem in hiring first, which you may not be able to see clearly externally at first.

Why shouldn't they ?

Because films are art?

Netflix is a business. Their interest is art they can profit from. Art that drives a lot of people away probably isn't going to make the cut (unless they think it might draw in more people than it pushes away.)

They are a private company, they can do what they want, no?

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