Living in Spin by Cynthia L. Kemper

What’s all the ‘hype’ about this “media-controlled universe”? Cynthia L. Kemper writes in her article “Living in Spin” about how the twenty-first century has a corrupt sense of honesty. Her paper, published in “Communication World”, is generally a reaction to her findings about the new age style of communication. She bases it mostly on interviews and supports it by the many quotes weaved between her logic-based trails of thought. Appealing mostly to logos and pathos, she carries a conversational tone with her audience. This tone is abundant in rhetorical questions that she doesn’t attempt to answer. The main purpose of her article appears to be the ‘eye-opening’ factor. Kemper manages to provide a conscious effort to tell people how many different factors have affected the current generation’s ability to speak without ‘spinning’. She quotes the editor of slate, Michael Kinsley, in order to explain that “Spinning means describing a reality that suits your purposes. Whether it resembles the reality we all share is an issue that doesn't even arise”. Simply put, the author that begins her essay with a very intriguing question, “Have 21st Century Communicators Stopped Telling the Truth?”; refrains from clearly answering this very question throughout her work. In the article the author talks about the problems of people ‘coloring’ stories to make them more appealing. Modern day rules allow people to stretch the truth to sell products better among other things. She blames these ‘innovations’ in the world of communication to the new progresses in technology.

Her arguments call to the logical and emotional side of the reader as it appeals to logos and pathos. Her credibility lacks slightly, seeing as she has no PhD but only experience in the field. This credibility also suffers because she doesn’t offer a more factual based research. Her opinions won’t be accepted only by the mere fact that others share them. Also, her paper would’ve been much more appealing if she had expressed more sides to the same argument. What’s the other side of the ‘spin’ practice? Is there even one? Who or what else can be ‘blamed’ for this generation’s acclaimed increase in dishonesty?