Its not ETC fault that it got 51% attacked. Right now many coins are vulnerable to getting 51% attacked since the prices are low and with low prices miners have left and there is less hashrate and easier to attack.
Not only that but its also cheaper to attack because the hashrate is cheaper to buy on Nicehash.
51% attacks are generally targetted towards exchanges and the exchange needs to have some monitoring in place to make sure they aren't vulernable to the attack; basically what Coinbase did. Its highly unlikely someone would do a 51% to double spend a transaction that was conducted OTC or by peer to peer such as a local meet.
An interesting statement by Charlie Lee on this attack:
“By definition, a decentralized cryptocurrency must be susceptible to 51% attacks whether by hashrate, stake, and/or other permissionlessly-acquirable resources. If a crypto can't be 51% attacked, it is permissioned and centralized.”
BTW, if we compare the current hash of Ethash coins, it's clear that Etheruem and Ethereum Classic are dominating the first two positions by a big margin:
No.1: Ethereum = ~175 Th/s
No.2: Ethereum Classic = ~8.50 Th/s
No.3: Callisto = ~0.90 Th/s
Interestingly, the Ethereum will get the algorithm change soon, making Ethereum Classic a perfect candidate for all the current hashrate of Ethereum. If miners really switch to Ethereum Classic after
Etheruem goes ASIC-resistant ProgPow, it'll become considerably expensive for anyone to 51%-attack Ethereum Classic again.