Shocking Responses to Attack on Woman Wearing Google Glass

Looks like attacking people wearing Google Glass is the new “cool thing” to do. The excuses are familiar. The attackers were “provoked”, the girl wearing the glasses “had it coming”, why was she wearing them in a bar, blah blah blah. New circumstances, same old story. If you’re thinking to yourself that this sounds remarkably like people blaming rape victims for wearing “provocative clothing”, being out at night, getting drunk, or engaging in flirtatious behavior, you’re not alone. The two phenomena are the same.

Sarah Slocum was attacked in a San Fransisco bar for wearing Google Glasses. She was not breaking the law, she wasn’t recording anyone without their permission, and by all accounts was engaged in friendly chit chat with bar patrons. Seeing her, some goons (both men and women) assaulted and robbed her. This by itself is bad enough. But reading the comments on that page is a truly disturbing experience. To any reasonable person, this poor woman is a victim. Going about her business in a public place, she was assaulted for no fault of her own…but not according to those defending the attack on her. Here’s one sample comment:

Only an idiot would run around wearing those things, especially at a bar, and not expect a negative reaction. Enough already.

The “negative reaction” just came from the sky did it? A force of nature. It’s not as if specific people decided to assault her. Oh no, it’s like the weather. If you walk without looking, you only have yourself to blame if you fall into a pothole. Apparently the attackers lacked human agency and couldn’t restrain themselves. They “lost control”. Same bullshit excuse all the time.

If people have a problem with Google Glass, let them take corrective action by getting a bill passed through the appropriate legislative body. Let them vote and decide their issues based on it. But no, such a measure would never pass muster because people don’t have an expectation of privacy in a public place. But still, maybe this kind of ubiquitous surveillance potential argues for news laws. Fair enough. Make the case in court. Or shut up and suck it up.

Attacking someone who’s not harming you is never ok. It does’t matter what your grievance is – if you use physical force, you immediately surrender all moral standing and are revealed to be the goon and thug you are deep inside. When that happens, you are wrong and the other person is a victim. End. Of. Story. Clearly victim blaming is not an “Indian” thing. The context is different sure, but underneath we’re all the same. While people from other countries might not blame the victim in some situations, it’s obvious that they smoothly stoop to these depths when it comes to others.

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10 thoughts on “Shocking Responses to Attack on Woman Wearing Google Glass”

    • In reply to Fem

      Lol. It’s one of these head gadgets where a display hovers over your eye and you can get navigation direction, make calls, snap pics and take video without moving your hands. Some people are worried about privacy concerns…

      Reply

  1. for me it looks like people decide to attack, and then find and stupid excuse .. tomorrow i can be attacked for wearing cloths saying that i am not revealing anything, or for eating outside, as Indian women are supposed to cook, how can they order food outside and eat??

    Reply

  2. Did you even read the story? It was a man that was WITH HER that started the fighting; she ran around the bar continuing to record while everyone yelled at her to shut it off.

    Wait for legislation? So anytime i walk out my door, I’m just going to have to accept that glass wearers rights to record me, photograph me, capture my passwords at the ATM, etc, exceed my own rights to privacy?

    How about we default in the other direction? Lets respect the public’s right to privacy; leave the glass at home until legislation catches up?

    Reply

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