A fleeting awkward moment can become far larger online than the event in which it occurred. The account of Sarah Palin describes a brief clothing mishap that attracted attention, followed by competing reactions from people defending her and others turning the moment into ridicule. What began as a passing incident became an opportunity for strangers to scrutinize a public figure frame by frame.
The most revealing part of that response is not the clothing itself. It is the ease with which a person can be reduced to a single image. Once a clip becomes detached from its surroundings, the person in it has little control over the captions, jokes, and assumptions that follow. A moment that would ordinarily pass without consequence can instead be replayed until it appears to define an entire appearance.