# отбеливание истории



## moonlight7

Hello, friends!
Does anyone know the correct English term for "отбеливание истории"?
Will it be *"whitening of history"?*
The context is the following:* 
Обращу внимание, что существуют такие очень опасные приёмы у лживых политиков, как «отбеливание истории» собственных стран и «героизация преступлений». 
*


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## Q-cumber

Может 'beautification of history ' ?


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## Maroseika

Можно оттолкнуться от colour the truth - приукрашивать действительность. То есть - colour the history.


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## Rosett

Обычно в похожем смысле используется идиоматическое laundering (отмывание денег). Cleaning up можно сказать.
Отбеливание буквально будет bleaching, но нужного идиоматического смысла у него вроде бы нет, согласно словарям. Тем не менее, примеры такого употребления встречаются.

Leonard Pitts Jr.: We must oppose *bleaching of history*
“This,” says Roni Dean-Burren, “is what erasure looks like.”

How Rap Musicians Are Being Manipulated to Aid In The Destruction of Black Males…...
1 окт. 2014 г. - White males knew that a percentage of us would fall into the trap due to their brainwashing and *bleaching of history.
*
June « 2010 « Trade needs Peace
25 июн. 2010 г. - In Germany, there is no such convenient *bleaching of history*. A radically different situation prevails.

Есть ещё вариант polishing, вполне употребимый. Особенно созвучно было бы в отношении истории Польши или истории вообще, но отбеленной польскими историками, либо по заказу польских властей.


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## moonlight7

Maybe, I just need to use "falsification of history"?


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## Enquiring Mind

The usual expression is "whitewashing history".


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## moonlight7

Perfect! Thanks EM and others!!!


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## Rosett

Enquiring Mind said:


> The usual expression is "whitewashing history".


"Whitewashing" may have a rather specific direct meaning with regards to the White American view of history through Hollywood movies and of the slavery. Also, and even more important, this term would apply to any non-white person behaving ostensibly like a White American in public. Those meanings, rather scornful, make it unfit for generalization at different levels, like that of "whitewashing history" in the OP.


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## moonlight7

Judging by this article (especially the part about modern usage), I can say that this term fits perfectly. 
Whitewashing (censorship) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Rosett

moonlight7 said:


> Judging by this article (especially the part about modern usage), I can say that this term fits perfectly.
> Whitewashing (censorship) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Это вы статью выбрали с примечанием (censorship) в скобках - чтобы не путать с вышеприведённым расистским термином (racist slur).
Лучше вот тут почитайте:
whitewash
(n., v., or adj.) A process or result or act: when a person who is considered a minority adopts a lifestyle (including speech, mannerisms, clothing, etc.) that is attributed secludedly to those of European descent, white people.
1. She is whitewashed.
Someone who is looked at as leaving behind or neglecting their culture and assimilating to a white, western culture.
На "земле" данное значение преобладает.

И в продолжение темы:
A term that now has also come to refer to the entertainment industry's attempt at making ethnic characters more appealing to the white, money-spending masses by making exotic characters less ethnic and more "white."
2. Isn't Chun Li supposed to be 100% Chinese? Why did Hollywood totally whitewash her and cast a half-asian actress to play her in that horrible new Street Fighter movie??

Ну и другие, менее существенные значения есть (разгромная победа в спорте, например).


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## Enquiring Mind

> "Whitewashing" may have a rather specific direct meaning with regards to the White American view of history through Hollywood movies and of the slavery. Also, and even more important, this term would apply to any non-white person behaving ostensibly like a White American in public. Those meanings, rather scornful, make it unfit for generalization at different levels, like that of "whitewashing history" in the OP.


 Sorry, but this is incorrect. "Whitewashing history" *is *the term for "generalization at different levels".  There's nothing in the original post, whose source we don't know, that makes any connection with race or slavery, just as there's no similar connection in the use of отбеливание in the following context (source: wap.wolgadeutschen.borda.ru) _"Естественно, меня заинтересовала реакция на происходящее в РФ немецких историков. Большинство из них считает это «следствием продолжающейся в России компании по героизации недавнего прошлого и фактической реабилитации сталинского режима». По их мнению, «подобное отбеливание преступлений наиболее тяжело сказывается на народах, которые в недавнем прошлом подверглись наиболее изощренным и всеохватывающим репрессиям»."_

The fact that a term may (or may not - the source of your definition is the "Urban Dictionary", which is a very poor authority) have one particular narrow usage in one particular narrow context does not disqualify the use of the term in its normally accepted sense. "Whitewashing" is the term for _отбеливание _(of history), and there's no reason to make any connection (in the English or Russian term) with race unless that is specifically stated in the context, and it isn't.


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## Rosett

Enquiring Mind said:


> The fact that a term may (or may not - the source of your definition is the "Urban Dictionary", which is a very poor authority) have one particular narrow usage in one particular narrow context does not disqualify the use of the term in its normally accepted sense. "Whitewashing" is the term for _отбеливание _(of history), and there's no reason to make any connection (in the English or Russian term) with race unless that is specifically stated in the context, and it isn't.


Apparently, you are not aware of how widespread is the modern racial meaning of "whitewashing" in North America, and it's not for ghettoes only.
I had to put the "urban" references just because the classic ones tend to ignore racial slur.


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## Drink

Rosett said:


> Apparently, you are not aware of how widespread is the modern racial meaning of "whitewashing" in North America, and it's not for ghettoes only.
> I had to put the "urban" references just because the classic ones tend to ignore racial slur.



I don't think _whitewashing_ has any racial connotations at all, even if it happened to have been used in some recent racial contexts. Urban Dictionary is filled with complete nonsense. Anyone can add anything to it and it never gets deleted or corrected; and it's the more entertaining definitions that get voted to the top, rather than the more accurate ones.


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## Rosett

Drink said:


> I don't think _whitewashing_ has any racial connotations at all, even if it happened to have been used in some recent racial contexts. Urban Dictionary is filled with complete nonsense. Anyone can add anything to it and it never gets deleted or corrected; and it's the more entertaining definitions that get voted to the top, rather than the more accurate ones.


Never mind Urban, that was the easiest to get on a mobile device. The meaning I had explained above comes not from the Urban stuff but from people. I can't imagine that you are unaware of the issue, but usually people avoid talking openly on racially sensitive issues that irritate many, and the extent is grossly underestimated by the official linguists.

*25 Minority Characters That Hollywood Whitewashed ...*
www.complex.com/.../25-minority-characters-that-hollywood-*whitewashed*...
Even if you've never heard of Hollywood _*whitewashing*_, chances are you've seen it anyway. It's a kind of casting where film studios have placed ...

There is quite a fresh book, too, thanks to the constitutional freedom of speech:
*Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society ...*
www.amazon.com › ... › New, Used & Rental Textbooks › Social Sciences
White-Washing Race - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
_*Whitewashing*_ Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society [Michael K. Brown, Martin Carnoy, Elliott Currie, Troy Duster, David B. Oppenheimer, Marjorie M. Schultz, ...
White Americans, abetted by neo-conservative writers of all hues, generally believe that racial discrimination is a thing of the past and that any racial inequalities that undeniably persist—in wages, family income, access to housing or health care—can be attributed to African Americans' cultural and individual failures. If the experience of most black Americans says otherwise, an explanation has been sorely lacking—or obscured by the passions the issue provokes. At long last offering a cool, clear, and informed perspective on the subject, this book brings together a team of highly respected sociologists, political scientists, economists, criminologists, and legal scholars to scrutinize the logic and evidence behind the widely held belief in a color-blind society—and to provide an alternative explanation for continued racial inequality in the United States.
While not denying the economic advances of black Americans since the 1960s, _Whitewashing Race _draws on new and compelling research to demonstrate the persistence of racism and the effects of organized racial advantage across many institutions in American society—including the labor market, the welfare state, the criminal justice system, and schools and universities. Looking beyond the stalled debate over current antidiscrimination policies, the authors also put forth a fresh vision for achieving genuine racial equality of opportunity in a post-affirmative action world.

In the news:
*Met accused of whitewashing baby Jesus | New York Post*
nypost.com/2015/12/.../lawsuit-claims-jesus-is-too-white-in-met-painting...
Dec 6, 2015 - A Manhattan man is suing the Met, claiming it's committing sacrilege by depicting Jesus as a blond. “_*Racist*_” paintings portraying Christ as an ...

In the academia:
*“FOB” and “Whitewashed”: Identity and Internalized Racism ...*
ResearchGate - Share and discover research*Whitewashed*_Ident...
Official Full-Text Publication: “FOB” and “_*Whitewashed*_”: Identity and Internalized _*Racism*_ Among Second Generation Asian Americans on ResearchGate, the ...
Article  “FOB” and “Whitewashed”: Identity and Internalized Racism Among Second Generation Asian Americans
Karen Diane Pyke  Tran Dang  University of California
Qualitative Sociology  (Impact Factor: 0.78).  01/2003;  26(2):147-172.  DOI: 10.1023/A:1022957011866
ABSTRACT
An analysis of 184 in-depth interviews with grown children of Korean and Vietnamese immigrants finds that the racial beliefs, meanings, and stereotypes of the mainstream society shape how they think about coethnics, generate local identities, and deflect stigma from themselves. We examine the terms FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) and whitewashed that were commonly deployed to denigrate coethnic others as too ethnic or too assimilated while casting those at the bicultural middle as the normals. We describe how this system of intraethnic othering serves as a basis for sub-ethnic identities, intraethnic social boundaries, and the monitoring and control of social behavior. We draw on the concept of internalized racial oppression in framing our findings.

“FOB” and “Whitewashed”: Identity and Internalized Racism Among Second Generation Asian Americans (PDF Download Available). Available from: “FOB” and “Whitewashed”: Identity and Internalized Racism Among Second Generation Asian Americans [accessed Apr 7, 2016].


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## abracadabra!

Rosett said:


> 2. Isn't Chun Li supposed to be 100% Chinese? Why did Hollywood totally whitewash her and cast a half-asian actress to play her in that horrible new Street Fighter movie??


Это и по-русски так можно. "Разве Чунь Ли -- не чистокровная китаянка? Зачем Голливуд решил абсолютно отбелить её и пригласить на её роль полуазиатскую актрису в этом ужасном новом фильме по мотивам Street Fighter?"


> *Met accused of whitewashing baby Jesus.*
> 
> Dec 6, 2015, New York Post - A Manhattan man is suing the Met, claiming it's committing sacrilege by depicting Jesus as a blond. ...


Или: "*Метрополитен-музей обвинён в отбеливании младенца Христа.* Житель Манхеттена подал в суд на Метрополитен-музей. Он считает, что музей совершает святотатство, изображая Христа блондином. ...". Основному значению слова это не мешает.


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## Rosett

abracadabra! said:


> Или: "*Метрополитен-музей обвинён в отбеливании младенца Христа.* Житель Манхеттена подал в суд на Метрополитен-музей. Он считает, что музей совершает святотатство, изображая Христа блондином. ...". Основному значению слова это не мешает.


Это на RU не мешает.
Зато на AE во многих частях принятие образа жизни и манер белого американца небелыми, совершающими таким образом предательство по отношению к ценностям и культуре соответствующей этнической группы в понимании такой группы, является первичным значением whitewashing (и в контексте истории, обсуждаемом в данной ветке, тоже - так как относится к "выбеливанию" истории именно афроамериканцев, как-де всё было здорово и гармонично в истории рабовладения и последующей борьбы за равенство, а не какой-то истории или истории вообще), но подлежащего официальному умолчанию ввиду острой расовой чувствительности вопроса. Намёк, как говорится, слишком тонкий, чтобы его не понять.
Официально делается вид, что слово есть, а значения такого нет - почти по аналогии с убойным примером на букву "ж".


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