Sarah Palin's Dog Step Stool

Sarah Palin's Dog Step Stool

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Overview

Sarah Palin's Dog Step Stool refers to the online backslash surrounding a photograph of the former Alaskan governor's son standing on top of the family dog as if it were a stool, which drew much criticism from animal rights activists and others in social media after it was shared on Sarah Palin's Facebook page in January 2015.

Background

On January 1st, 2015, Palin posted several photographs on Facebook[1] of her son Trig stepping on top of their family dog in order to reach the counter to help wash dishes (shown below). In the first week, the post gained over 73,100 likes and 12,300 shares.


Like Page Sarah Palin added 4 new photos. January 1 at 11:28am- Happy New Year! May 2015 see every stumbling block turned into a stepping stone on the path forward. Trig just reminded me. He, determined to help wash dishes with an oblivious mama not acknowledging his signs for "up!", found me and a lazy dog blocking his way. He made his stepping stone Sarah Palin Our hope is not in new year.. .but in the One who makes all things new. Like Comment Share 73,150 people like this. 12,348 shares

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

On the following day, Redditor rhys1882 submitted a screenshot of Palin's Facebook post to the /r/facepalm[5] subreddit, where it gathered more than 1,000 votes (87% upvoted) in 48 hours.

Feud with PETA

Also on January 2nd, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) condemned Palin for posting the photo in a statement published on the organization's website.[2]

"It’s odd that anyone--let alone a mother--would find it appropriate to post such a thing, with no apparent sympathy for the dog in the photo. Then again, PETA, along with everyone else, is used to the hard-hearted, seeming obliviousness of this bizarrely callous woman, who actually thought it appropriate to be filmed while turkeys were being slaughtered right behind her in full view of the camera."

On January 3rd, Palin posted a letter to PETA on her Facebook[3] page, which defended the photographs by comparing herself to Barack Obama, who admitted to eating dog as a child in Indonesia, and Ellen Degeneres, who posted a similar photo in July (shown below).


The Ellen DeGeneres Show elen July 1, 2014e Well, that's one way to reach the sink.

The same day, PETA[4]` posted another response, revealing that they had sent a case of "vegan cavier" to Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the organization "simply believes that people shouldn't step on dogs."

News Media Coverage

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the controversial photograph, including USA Today,[6] Time,[7] US Weekly,[8] E! Online,[9] Washington Times[10] and Mediaite.[11]

Search Interest

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