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To whitewash is a metaphor meaning to gloss over or cover up vices, crimes or scandals or to exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data.[1] It is especially used in the context of corporations, governments or other organizations.
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Its first reference dates back to 1591.[1] Whitewash is a cheap white paint or coating of chalked lime used to quickly give a uniform clean appearance to a wide variety of surfaces, for instance, the entire interior of a barn. In 1800, 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."
Many dictatorships and authoritarian states, as well as democratic countries, have used the method of whitewash in order to glorify the results.
During the Soviet-era, Stalin adjusted photographs of himself with Lenin, in order to position himself closer as to give an impression of a closer relationship between the two.
Later, during the Soviet 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', which was promptly nicknamed '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.
North Korean radio broadcasts claim to have an abundance in food supplies, yet the government receives food aid from foreign states.[2]
Japan is accused of whitewashing its history of warfare and imperialism by omitting or minimizing subjects such as the Nanking Massacre in textbooks.[3]
In Matthew 23:27, Jesus warns of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, revealing that they are "like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones." The commentary on this verse often describes the custom (as common in the 1st century A.D. and even today) in which chalked lime (or white paint) served to notify Jews of the taboo, unclean sepulcher. On this part, Gill's, Barnes', and Clarke's Bible commentaries agree.[4] In this passage the intent is to show that Pharisees are likely to conceal their sins, whitewashing their appearance.
Novels by George Orwell have dealt with the subject of whitewash as well. In Animal Farm, the pig Napoleon tries to whitewash history by deleting a few characters from the minds of the other animals. This was perceived as a direct reference to the USSR under Stalin.