Well, to be fair, the idea behind whitewashing is that there&#x27;s some benefit to covering up the horrors of the past. It doesn&#x27;t work out that way, especially when the truth eventually comes out. But what would be the benefit here? It&#x27;s ice measurement data from seven centuries ago, long before climate skeptics started complaining that scientists were &quot;fudging data for grant money&quot; and other nonsense accusations. The monks would have had zero reason to fudge data.<p>In any case, you didn&#x27;t really see the rise of Japanese militarism until after the Meiji Restoration in 1868. The atrocities that took place before and during WWII can&#x27;t really be connected to a remote monastery and its priests who started recording this data seven centuries beforehand.