Racial Profiling & Netflix: A Chilling Expose

Now, I will have to admit something at the outset. This 'expose' is not quite as 'chilling' or 'in dept' as the title may lead you to believe. But I do have a couple of 'nippy' examples of questionable if not dubious Netflix 'suggestions' I recently received. For those of you not familiar with the whole Netflix phenomena you might want to get your head out of your ass. But to make a long story short, it has software that suggests "Movies You'll Love" based on movies you indicated that you 'enjoyed' through its movie ranking system. And I am calling that 'software' out as a bigot. That may be a bit harsh. It may be more of a case of inadvertent cultural insensitivity brought on by ignorance, and I'm sure some of the Netflix "Movies You'll Love" softwares' best friends are DOS programs, but that is not an acceptable excuse for biggoted movie recommedations. Anyway, here is the first suspicious recommendation that caught my attention.

Example number one.

In the above example, the movie "Akeelah and the Bee" is suggested because i enjoyed the movie "Malcolm X." If you are not familiar with the movie "Malcolm X" it is the story of the late Civil Rights leader, Malcolm X, and his journey from a two bit hoodlum to a militant black separatist via the Nation of Islam and his eventual rejection of the latter's principles resulting in his assassination. If you are not familiar with the movie "Akeelah and the Bee," it is the story of a girl who goes to the national spelling bee.

Not really seeing a similarity or logical reason why these two movies may be linked to one another? Let me help you out...there isn't one. Except for the fact that there's 'Black Folk' in both. What is even more egregious is the fact that "Akeelah and the Bee," isn't even suggested because of an array of other films I enjoyed. Nope, just "Malcolm X".

Example number two.

This next one is stand up comedy from comedian, Katt Williams. I like Katt Williams. But thats not to say I see where Malcolm X would like Katt Williams. The majority of Katts' stand up, as you may have gathered from the movies title, is about 'pimps' and 'hoe's.' Granted Malcolm Little certainly sported his fair share of zoot suits and referred to himself as a hustler back in the day, but I highly doubt Malcolm X would find 'pimps' and 'hoes' humorous after he found the honorable Elijah Muhammad and converted to the Nation of Islam. I guess other than the fact that they are both black men, Netflixs "Movies You'll Love" software, must think they are cousins as well.

Which leads me to the question..."Whats next"? For instance, lets say I rate the Disney movie "Aladdin" highly on Netflix...



Will I get a suggestion along the lines of this?



While I'm sure that some of Netflixs "Movies You'll Love" softwares' best friends are also virus programs, I would have to imagine that it also loves Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity as well.

Although, I have not pushed the speed dial to Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson to spearhead a grassroots campaign to get the "Movies You'll Love" software fired from Netflixs just yet, I will be keeping a close eye on its future recommedations.

If anyone else has any examples of bigotted Netflix suggestions please leave a comment.