Whitewashing is the act of glossing over or covering up vices, crimes or scandals or exonerating by means of a perfunctory investigation or biased presentation of data.
["Whitewash", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2003 DVD Ultimate reference suite.]
Etymology
The first known use of the term is from 1591 in England.
Whitewash
Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes used ...
is a cheap white paint or coating of chalked
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
that was used to quickly give a uniform clean appearance to a wide variety of surfaces, such as the interior of a barn.
Usage
In 1800, in the United States, the word was used in a political context, when a Philadelphia ''Aurora'' editorial said that "if you do not whitewash
President Adams speedily, the
Democrats, like swarms of flies, will bespatter him all over, and make you both as speckled as a dirty wall, and as black as the
devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
."
In the 20th century, many
dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...
s,
authoritarian
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...
and
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
states used whitewashing in order to glorify the results of war. For instance, during the Soviet invasion of
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
following the
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in
the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
of 1968, the Press Group of Soviet Journalists released a collection of "facts, documents, press reports and eye-witness accounts." Western journalists promptly nicknamed it as "The White Book", both for its white cover and its attempts to whitewash the invasion by creating the impression that the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
countries had the right and duty to invade.
In the study of
reputation systems by means of
algorithmic game theory, whitewashing refers to the abandonment of a tarnished identity and creation of a blank one,
which is more widely known in
internet slang
Internet slang (also called Internet shorthand, cyber-slang, netspeak, digispeak or chatspeak) is a non-standard or unofficial form of language used by people on the Internet to communicate to one another. An example of Internet slang is "LOL" m ...
as
sockpuppeting.
Some critics have accused Michelle Alexander's ''
The New Jim Crow'' of being whitewashed due to the bias of its
conceptual framework
A conceptual framework is an analytical tool with several variations and contexts. It can be applied in different categories of work where an overall picture is needed. It is used to make conceptual distinctions and organize ideas. Strong conceptu ...
. It omits pertinent
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
people and history, as well as
politically radical ideas in favor of a more conventional and mainstream perspective.
According to the Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk director for the
International Federation for Human Rights, Ilya Nuzov, Russia is trying to whitewash the country's repressive Stalinist past. On August 30, 2021,
Russian Foreign Minister
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation is a high-ranking Russian government official who heads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The foreign minister is one of the five so-called 'presidential' minist ...
Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004.
...
said that the "attacks" on the Soviet dictator
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
are part of attacks on Russia's past and the results of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Russian politician and former deputy of the
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
said that Lavrov "made an attempt to whitewash Stalin, which clearly, during the period of repressive measures carried out by the authorities, showed the kinship of the authorities with the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
, anthem =
, seats1_title = Seats in the State Duma
, seats1 =
, seats2_title = Seats in the Federation Council
, seats2 =
, seats3_title = Governors
, seats3 =
, seats4_title ...
''–'' the same Stalin admirers." Russian literary critic and culturologist noted that "the whitewashing of domestic
ghouls
A ghoul ( ar, غول, ') is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid. The concept originated in pre-Islamic Arabian religion, associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh. Modern fiction often uses the term to label a cert ...
only indicates that the current rulers feel a spiritual kinship with them."
See also
*
Greenwash
Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on "whitewash"), also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aims ...
ing
*
Pinkwashing (breast cancer)
Pinkwashing is a form of cause marketing that uses a pink ribbon logos. The companies display the pink ribbon logo on products that are known to cause different types of cancer to the user. The Pink ribbon logo symbolizes support for breast cance ...
*
Purplewashing
Purplewashing is a compound word modeled on the term ''whitewash''. The prefix "purple" is associated with feminism while the verb "wash" refers to the co-opting strategies that use minority rights to maintain or enhance structural forms of disc ...
*
Redwashing
Redwashing, derived from combining '' red'' with '' whitewashing'', is the practice of a state, organization, political party, or company presenting itself as progressive and concerned about social equality and justice, in order to use this perce ...
*
Reputation laundering Reputation laundering occurs when a person or an organization conceals unethical, corrupt, or criminal behavior by performing highly-visible positive actions with the intent to improve their reputation and obscure their history.
Reputation launderi ...
*
Setting up to fail
Setting up to fail is a phrase denoting a no-win situation designed in such a way that the person in the situation cannot succeed at the task which they have been assigned. It is considered a form of workplace bullying.
There are also situation ...
*
The Commissar Vanishes
''The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia'' is a 1997 book by David King about the censoring of photographs and fraudulent creation of "photographs" in Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union through silent alt ...
*
Sportswashing
Sportswashing is a term used to describe the practice of individuals, groups, corporations, or governments using sports to improve reputations tarnished by wrongdoing. A form of propaganda, sportswashing can be accomplished through hosting sport ...
References
External links
The Commissar Vanishes- the whitewashes by Stalin.
{{Censorship
Censorship
Cover-ups