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A 'male' humanoid robot was unveiled in Saudi Arabia. It then inappropriately touched a female reporter. (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 7 months ago by empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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[–] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 45 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's not exactly newsworthy, but that a Saudi robot, from a country known for its bad treatment of women, touches a woman inappropriately, even if just by accident, reads like satire.

[+] pixxelkick@lemmy.world -16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

a country known for its bad treatment of women

Making assumptions about someone/something based off its country of origin sounds pretty xenophobic to me.

The robot didn't "grope" a woman, it moved its hand as an animitronic, and she was clearly standing right next to it during its animations.

The fact that was blatantly blown into "groping" abd the fact the article felt the need to repeat that it happened in Saudi repeatedly, over and over, should trip the xenophobia alarm.

Consider if it was an article about how an animitronic robot that moved and knocked a man's wallet out of his hand because he walked to close past it. I.agine if articles turned that into "Jewish made robot tries to steal man's wallet!" Unironically.

You'd probably look at that and go "yeah okay, that's pretty fucked up, whyd the do that?" Right?

[–] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You are trying very hard to find things to be outraged over.

The robot was unveiled in Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia has a well-documented history of treating women very poorly. I hope that's not something you'd dispute. Of course the robot is an automaton without any agency, but the combination of the sad history of Saudi Arabia's treatment of women combined with the fact that the robot was made up to look like a Saudi male and the touching of a women in an inappropriate manner was what made this humorous. "Even their robots mistreat women!" would be the gist of it. When the bad behavior comes from the very top and is so enshrined in the culture, as is the case in Saudi Arabia, then you don't have to mention the fact that not all Saudi men are this bad every time there's a conversation about it. Especially not when we're talking about a joke/satire. Because then we're just highlighting a single aspect and are not having a nuanced conversation.