Talk:Whitewashing (censorship)

Untitled
I was under the impression that the use of the term 'whitewash' comes from the Matthew 23:27 - "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are just like whitewashed sepulchres, the outside of which pleases the eye, though inside they are full of dead men's bones and of all that is unclean."

This could be synonymous with euphemism in some cases.--HisSpaceResearch 08:14, 17 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Me too! I'm still sure it is true. (ESV: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead peoples bones and pall uncleanness) 'First use' here in section 'etymology' - note that those people who used the term, knew their bible, and referenced without indicating source, because they knew everybody knows. And is it really true that first use was in USA? American bias again, I'm afraid. Or maybe not. Research needed.BirgittaMTh (talk) 04:47, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Stalin adjusted the photographs with Lenin
Is it a Whitewash? He removed his opponents from the pictures and more general, even killing them - it's rather the Whitewash.Xx236 09:18, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Some serious accusations. Where is your evidence that he was responsible?

-G — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.53.14.163 (talk) 19:31, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Replacing Asian characters with Whites?
I've recently been hearing this word referring to things like this. Esn (talk) 22:04, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah, "whitewashing" seems to have some currency for that; other examples that come to mind are the cover art thing with Liar (novel) and the movie of Starship Troopers rendering a major, early non-white science fiction protagonist, Juan "Johnny" Rico, as a square-jawed white guy, John "Johnny" Rico. This article is the closest one Wikipedia has to that, but it's still not really addressing the same thing.  As best I can tell, somebody needs to write Whitewash (media racism) or something. —chaos5023 (talk) 16:30, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Prague Spring
I just added the bit about 'The White Book' as an example of whitewashing, but realised I wasn't sure how to put references down the bottom. If anyone wants to do this, they're

'On Events in Czechoslovakia: Facts, Documents, Press Reports and Eye-Witness Accounts (Moscow: Press Group of Soviet Journalists, 1968)' which is the book known as 'The White Book' and Robert Littell (ed.) whose introduction to 'The Czech Black Book' (London: Pall Mall Press, 1969) pp. viii-ix. might be of interest to anyone wishing to know a little more

also if anyone can be bothered, perhaps the paragraph could be reworded - it sounds a little clumsy to me but i'm too tired to change it. Storleone (talk) 16:33, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Healthwashing
The term "Healthwashing" refers to situations like listing methods of cooking which produce carcinogens under titles like healthy recipes. 71.100.5.109 (talk) 16:30, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Fictional Usage Section A little too specific?
Certainly Animal Farm dealt with Whitewashing, but not any more so than most dystopian stories. It seems like this entry sort of makes it seem like whitewashing is a rare phenomena in media, which is anything but true. It also places a little too much emphasis on the involvement of the Soviet Union. I would suggest omitting the section entirely. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.207.109.128 (talk) 06:10, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

Re: Pinkwashing
Describing Pinkwashing as a form of 'Israeli hasbara propaganda' is clearly a violation of WP:NPOV. Frankly, this term is not related to Whitewash at all IMO, but if someone wants to argue that it deserves to stay here, the description of this logical fallacy must be NPOV (ie descriptive and not an accusation or claim), attributed properly, and placed in an appropriate context. Thanks. Kinetochore (talk) 05:35, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

Heavy US bias
There seems to be empty threats made at traditional enemies of US officials. And yet we have no modern examples of whitewashing US (or Israeli) crimes and warcrimes. Not out right propaganda (which there is many of) but casual whitewashing.

-G — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.53.14.163 (talk) 19:33, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Agreed. Would you mind adding some? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_My_Teacher_Told_Me is a decent source of some US based historical whitewashing to go with Japan's Nanking massacre. 22:14, 26 June 2019 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.21.162.76 (talk)

Newbie question on citing sources (RESOLVED)
Hi, I'm a newbie. I noticed this page had a "citation needed" for the whitewashing quote at the beginning, so I googled it and I think I found a citation. I just don't know how to list it.

The quote in question is the first-ever-used Whitewashing quote: "'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.'"

I found it on the page "Censorship", in the New World Encyclopedia (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Censorship), which lists it, verbatim, with a reference: "Aurora, (Philadelphia, July 21, 1800)."

Do I list the web page that I got it from (i.e., the New World Encyclopedia) or the original source (the Aurora)?

And on a matter of factual accuracy, since I don't want to circulate something that can't be proven... where did THEY get it? How do you fact-check something over 200 years old unless you happen to have the newspaper on hand? Just wondering about that last bit.

Meteor sandwich yum (talk) 02:06, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

Nevermind. The discussion page isn't the place to ask a question, anyway; that's what the 'help me' template or the Help Desk is for :P meteor_sandwich_yum (talk) 03:35, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

Apartheit
In the South African state some enterprises behaved in a whitewahing manner. Also enterprises from other countries that were trading with them althout the UNO spoke an embargo over some parts of South Africa. --178.197.230.175 (talk) 22:12, 29 October 2019 (UTC)

Whitewashing in media
This article is about censorship. The material you are adding is about a completely different topic, casting white actors in non-white roles in media, and does not belong in this article. We already have an article about that topic, Whitewashing in film. Please read that article and decide if you have anything to add there. CodeTalker (talk) 20:40, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

you need to stop reinserting this material and start communicating. The text you are adding has nothing to do with the subject of this article, and does not belong here. Pinging other recent editors of this article:    CodeTalker (talk) 21:25, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Agreed. Also will add that those edits would have been reversed regardless of content, written like personal essays, not adequately cited and littered with NPOV issues - while I personally agree with the point of view being imparted, the language very clearly shows that it has been written by someone with strong personal views on the matter. I understand it’s an emotive issue but if we don’t write neutrally then only people who agree with that viewpoint would actually consider it. Communicate!! John wiki: If you have a problem, don't mess with my puppy... 21:50, 30 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I appreciate the ping, but I haven't really contributed to the article proper. I did add the short description, but I tend to avoid editing articles like this.  While I do have a personal point of view on the topic, it's not something I'd attempt to share.  In looking at the history, all I would add is that some editors are approaching WP:3RR and should exercise caution at this point. — Ched (talk) 00:33, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

The bias of this word needs to be addressed
The bias of the word “whitewashing” needs to be addressed. ‪The use of “white” as a synonym for “bad” is a microaggression. Somewhere the bias inherent in this phrase needs to be acknowledged and a more suitable word suggested.
 * Disagree. The term itself doesn't actually have anything to do with race, if the etymology section of this exact article is to be trusted. I see the same problem being discussed with the term "blacklist" (a word that apparently comes from a grieving son's dramatic prose), which I heard people have been trying to replace due to being "inherently racist", but never saw anything sticking (or proof that either term is actually based on race). At best this issue is a false alarm, and at worst the word's origin has been whitewashed itself. cogsan (talk) 18:40, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * "The use of “white” as a synonym for “bad”" Given that white as a color has a traditional association with death and ghosts, this is unlikely to change. Dimadick (talk) 09:26, 27 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Not that that has any actual relation to whitewashing, besides maybe that thing Stalin liked doing.
 * The term itself just uses white as a synonym for "totally clean you guys, don't look any further haha".
 * Can understand why people would try to connect the dots, though. cogsan (talk) 11:32, 27 January 2023 (UTC)