Just yesterday Bobby pointed out a practice of double attribution<\/a>, asking whether it goes beyond attribution into the dreaded scare quote territory. I wonder the same thing in a few stories I\u2019m reading about the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense.<\/p>\n I started looking around when Michael Brendan Dougherty asked<\/a>, on Twitter:<\/p>\n Curious why reporters put \u201canti-Catholic\u201d in scare quotes in their stories.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jonah Goldberg responded<\/a>, \u201cbecause they think the anti-Catholics are right.\u201d<\/p>\n What are they talking about? Well, when Hagel was nominated, some groups mentioned that he\u2019d opposed Bill Clinton\u2019s nomination of James Hormel to be an ambassador because he was \u201caggressively gay.\u201d Those words might not have been as controversial during the Clinton administration as they are now, but people were upset.<\/p>\n I was surprised to learn the rest of the story<\/a> today:<\/p>\n Hagel also told the World-Herald<\/em> he has seen tape of Hormell (sic) at an event by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence<\/a>, a San Francisco-based performance and activist group comprised of gay men in drag as nuns.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very clear on this tape that he\u2019s laughing and enjoying the antics of an anti-Catholic gay group in this gay parade,\u201d Hagel told the paper in the 1998 interview. \u201cI think it\u2019s wise for the president not to go forward with this nomination.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It is always good to consider the context of any remark. Hagel has apologized for his remarks either way, but knowing that Hagel was upset by Hormel laughing it up at a blasphemous drag show is an important detail. But is the group really<\/em> blasphemous or anti-Catholic? <\/p>\n Wikipedia<\/a> explains the group\u2019s activities:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Using their attire to parody nuns and religious sacrament, some actions of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have gone farther to offend Catholics. As early as 1982 the Catholic Church in San Francisco protested the methods of the Sisters, particularly when they attended an interfaith prayer service at St. Mary\u2019s Cathedral<\/a>. Balking at the stage names of Sister Hysterectoria and Sister Boom Boom, an editorial in a local Catholic magazine named the Monitor<\/em> stated, \u201cThe organization, their names, and their use of religious habits is an affront to religious women and Catholics in general\u201d.[31]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n Starting in 1995, the Sisters began a Castro Crawl on Easter Sunday to celebrate their anniversary. The event features a 13-stop pub crawl<\/a> that parodies Stations of the Cross<\/a>. At each station in front of a gay bar or similarly affiliated organization, the Sisters call out \u201cWe adore thee, O Christ\u201d to be answered by their traveling audience in \u201cLuvya, mean it, let\u2019s do brunch\u201d. Actors portray the Virgin Mary<\/a>, Mary Magdalene<\/a>, and other people integral to Easter traditions, and the Sisters continue to educate for safer sex by passing out condoms, ending the event with a toast of vanilla wafers<\/a> and J\u00e4germeister<\/a>.[44]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In 1999, San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano<\/a> came into conflict with some in San Francisco\u2019s Catholic community when the Board of Supervisors, at Ammiano\u2019s request, granted the Sisters a permit to close a block of Castro Street for their 20th anniversary celebration on Easter Sunday<\/a>, that included a \u201cHunky Jesus\u201d contest among other activities. San Francisco\u2019s archdiocese requested the event be moved to another day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s so tricky. If the target of mockery were, say, Muslims, we know we\u2019d call the group anti-Muslim and avoid scare quotes at all costs. But when it\u2019s Catholics, do the same rules apply? Do we need scare quotes around \u201canti-Catholic\u201d when describing this group? (For another comparison I\u2019ll just throw out there, count how many times scare quotes are used around the phrase \u201cantigay\u201d in this New York Times<\/em> article<\/a> today \u2014 be sure to check out the url, the headline and the copy and let me know if you find any.)<\/p>\n I\u2019m on record as generally opposing scare quotes. I think they do a lot to skew a story or remove trust with the reader \u2026 and not a lot to benefit it.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s get back to what Hagel actually said<\/a>:<\/p>\n Ambassadorial posts are sensitive, Hagel explained.\u201dThey are representing America,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are representing our lifestyle, our values, our standards. And I think it is an inhibiting factor to be gay \u2013 openly aggressively gay like Mr. Hormel \u2013 to do an effective job.\u201dHagel noted a documentary, filmed with money Hormel donated, that showed teachers how they could teach children about homosexuality. He said he had seen another video clip that showed Hormel at what Hagel called an anti \u2013 Catholic event in San Francisco, featuring the \u201cSisters of Perpetual Indulgence,\u201d a group of male drag queens.\u201dIt is very clear on this tape that he\u2019s laughing and enjoying the antics of an anti \u2013 Catholic gay group in this gay parade,\u201d Hagel said. \u201cI think it\u2019s wise for the president not to go forward with this nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n Luxembourg, he noted, is about 95 percent Roman Catholic. \u2026<\/p>\n Hagel, meanwhile, said a homosexual should not necessarily be disqualified from all ambassadorships.His approach to nominees, he said, has been to examine the person\u2019s qualifications first. The United States has had gay ambassadors in the past and gays in the military, who have done well by quietly adopting the Pentagon\u2019s current \u201cdon\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell\u201d attitude.Hormel, however, has gone beyond that, Hagel said.He \u201cvery aggressively told the world of his gayness and the funding and all the things he\u2019s been involved in. I think you do go beyond common sense there, and reason and a certain amount of decorum,\u201d Hagel said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Now let\u2019s look at how BuzzFeed<\/a> characterized Hagel\u2019s view (which is representative of most of the stories I saw on this matter):<\/p>\n Hagel detailed his objection to Hormel\u2019s nomination, saying he was concerned that Hormel had aligned himself with a group he considered \u201canti-Catholic,\u201d and asserted that being gay was \u201cbeyond common sense.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yeah, no need for the double attribution. You can use the quotes or you can use the word considered. Doing both is too much. Also, it\u2019s not true that Hagel said \u201cbeing gay\u201d was beyond common sense. I know the journalists at BuzzFeed don\u2019t have a lot of time to compose their posts but the same article they link to from 1998 includes Hagel\u2019s view that being gay is not<\/em> a disqualification from an ambassadorship. The particular<\/em> activities funded or participated in by Hormel seem to be the issue.<\/p>\n I know that it\u2019s downright passe to report comments in context, much less accurately, these days. But it\u2019s worth it. And go ahead and avoid the double attribution. It\u2019s inefficient and at least gives the appearance of scare quoting.<\/p>\n Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence image via Matt Ragen<\/a> \/ Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just yesterday Bobby pointed out a practice of double attribution, asking whether it goes beyond attribution into the dreaded scare quote territory. I wonder the same thing in a few stories I\u2019m reading about the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense. I started looking around when Michael Brendan Dougherty asked, on Twitter: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,49,1],"tags":[306,784,783,785],"class_list":["post-99072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","category-sex","category-uncategorized","tag-buzzfeed","tag-chuck-hagel","tag-james-hormel","tag-sisters-of-perpetual-indulgence"],"yoast_head":"\n