Whitewashing (censorship)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Cover-up or Whitewashing in film.

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 with the intention to improve one's reputation.[1]

Etymology

The first known use of the term is from 1591 in England.[1][2] Whitewash is a cheap white paint or coating of chalked lime that was used to quickly give a uniform clean appearance to a wide variety of surfaces, such as the interior of a barn.[citation needed]

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."[3]

In the 20th century, many

totalitarian states used whitewashing in order to glorify the results of war. For instance, during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia following the Prague Spring 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 "The White Book", both for its white cover and its attempts to whitewash the invasion by creating the impression that the Warsaw Pact countries had the right and duty to invade.[citation needed
]

In the study of

sockpuppeting
.

Some critics have accused Michelle Alexander's

politically radical ideas in favor of a more conventional and mainstream perspective.[5][6]

According to the Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk director for the

ghouls only indicates that the current rulers feel a spiritual kinship with them."[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Whitewash", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2003 DVD Ultimate reference suite.
  2. ^ "whitewash". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  3. ^ Philadelphia Aurora (July 21, 1800), cited in the New World Encyclopedia
  4. ISBN 0-521-87282-0
    .
  5. ^ Joseph D. Osel (2012-04-07). "Black Out: Michelle Alexander's Operational Whitewash" (PDF). International Journal of Radical Critique. Retrieved 2012-05-12.
  6. ^ "Thomas, G. "Why Some Like The New Jim Crow So Much", Vox Union, 2012".
  7. ^ Nuzov, Ilya (2019-08-30). "The Kremlin Is Trying to Whitewash Russia's Stalinist Past". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
  8. ^ ""Нападки на Сталина" и другие громкие заявления Сергея Лаврова" ["Attacks on Stalin" and other loud statements by Sergey Lavrov]. BBC News Russian (in Russian). 2021-08-30. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
  9. ^ "Sergey Lavrov calls criticism of Stalin's personality a threat to Russia". Caucasian Knot. 2021-08-30. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
  10. Radio Liberty
     (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-09-17.

External links

Media related to Whitewashing (censorship) at Wikimedia Commons

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