US PRESS—-BAD MOUTHNG PUTIN—FAKE NEWS

i was embarrassed again by our USA media...of all stripes...left right and independent.  They can’t get a story right anymore.

Let’s ignore the fake news our US press publishes about President Trump. But a story which appeared on CNN, FOX, the New York Post and elsewhere about a foreign figure ignored the facts and used the imagery to advance a prescribed view that the author prefers.  Some describe this as fake news

The published pictures showed bare chested President Putin of Russia, lowering himself into a body of icy water on January 19, 2018.   As he plunged into the icy water, he ducked under and emerged into apparently frigid air.

The headlines blared out: PUTIN TAKES ANY AND EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO BARE HIS MUSCLES AND SHOW HIS SIX PACK!

Left out of the all of the stories  was the essential (and ignrioed) religious aspect of the piece.  None mentioned that in the Russian and Greek Orthodox faiths January 19 (of the West’s Gregorian calendar) is the celebrrated as the Feast of the Epiphany.  That religious holiday occurs here in the West on January 6, in the Gregorian calendar we use.  Putin was simply taking part in a very common religious ceremony.

The Epipanhy—revelation of the savior—-and the arrival of the three Kings to present gifts to the infant  Jesus  is a one of the most holy  religious holidays in the East..  It is celebrated by Orthodox communicants throughout modern Russia, the Ukraine, the Baltic sates and in Greece and elsewhere.  In those nations celebrants typically take a winter plunge in the cold icy sea or in a river or lake.   In Greek communities on this date the celebration includes the tossing of  a crucifix  into the sea from a boat.  Communicants dive to retrieve the cross.  The plunge is a  remembrance of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.  Jesus began  his public ministry immediately after his baptism.   The plunge under purifying water symbolizes the new life which Jesus was to embark upon.  For religious Russians and other orthodox faiths this is a very solemn act.  Perhaps it was for Putin too.  But not many readers would have the least understanding of these facts.

There was no mention of the religious component of President Putin’s plunge in any of the articles that I saw or read,   They all reported only the “fake news”...the story that the “journalist” wished to peddle—-that Putin was again using any opportunity to show off his torso.

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF FAKE NEWS:  WHAT IS FAKE NEWS?   A “JOURNALIST” TAKING A REAL STORY, IGNORING THE FACTS, BUT USING INCIDENTAL ELEMENTS TO SUPPORT SOME  BIAS, THEME OR INUENDO THE AUTHOR IS ATTEMPTING TO ADVANCE AS HE/SHE IGNORES THE WHOLE STORY.