Ahmad again wrote me an email which includes very good insights about the FPJ candidacy...

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"One does not need to master the rules of logic to
realize how much fallacies have become a part of the
human way of living". My logic Prof told me this when
I was studying with him. Im obviously no master of the
rules of logic, but here is the best I have got, so
here it goes.....

5.) Most of the Phillipines population is comprised by
the masses, the masses want FPJ for president,
therefore he is the best choice.

Fallacies Committed: Appeal to emotion, Attack to
person(circumstancial), Irrelevant conclusion.

First of all never equate correctness with numbers.
Remember that long ago most people believed that the
world was flat and when the few challenged this belief
their statements were considered as blasphemous(but of
course now we know that the world is not flat).
Moreover this argument is suggesting that just because
you belong to the masses you should vote for FPJ!
aside from the obvious call to the people's emotion to
vote for him out of his popularity among the masses.

4.) To say that FPJ is not qualified is prejudism, we
do not know yet what he is capable of doing, lets just
wait and see when he gets elected.

Fallacies Committed: Appeal to pity, Appeal to
ignorance.

Of course we need to pre-judge every candidate in
order for us to come up with an intellegent vote.
Election is not a trial and error process, wherein we
can just wait and see if his leadership will work or
not. If he screws up, then we might have just opened
the pandoras box. This argument tries to put FPJ in
the underdog image so that voters can empathize with
him (Ernesto Maceda Admitted this). It also assumes
that the possibility that FPJ has no qualificatioon is
false, just because nobody can proove that its true
(YET).

3.) FPJ is and Actor not a Politician, He is likely
not to practice traditional politics, aside form the
fact the he has no political bagage.

Fallacies Committed: Attack to Peson (circumstancial),
Irrelevant conclusion, Assuming without prooving.

No Political baggage? Just because he is an actor that
does not really mean he is not capable of practicing
traditional politics, Just look at the people who
influence his descisions (Sotto, Angara, Maceda, Erap
etc.), they are all veteran politicians practicing
traditional politics. Besides look at some of the
Showbiz personalities that we have (Armida Sigiuion
Reyna, Rudy Fernandez, Joey de Leon) they are more
politicians than politicians (in my opinion at least).

2.) Art imitates life, FPJ is being beaten to death by
critics right now, but just like in his movies he will
always be victorious

Fallacy Committed: False Analogy

In real life, no one can dismantle a 45 pistol being
held to his head by a trigger happy villain. No one
can kill fifty goons with limited ammo, by himself
alone without getting a bruise or a scratch. No one
can do a gun battle at such a close range without
getting shot. No one can fist fight with ten Men
(Note; these men were as big as oxen) and manage to
live and tell his leading lady about it. Asiong
Salonga thought of the same thing..... Need I explain
more?

And finally (Drumroll)............


1.) Education is not really that Important to the
presidency. Just look at the past leaders that we had,
they are all educated but failed to solve the economic
problems of this country. With FPJ we can all be
influenced by him to unite for the common good of this
country.

Fallacies Committed: Appeal to emotion, Irrelevant
conclusion, fallacy of accident, fallacy of false
cause.

This ladies and gentlemen, is not only the biggest
fallacy pro-FPJ forces have given us, it is also the
biggest lie! By the end of Ramos Administration, the
Philippines was predicted (by Asia week and Time
mgazines) to be the next economic tiger, During the
term of President Ramon Magsaysay the Philippines was
wealthier than South Korea was. Hell! this country was
even more progressive during the Marcos administration
(too bad he abused it and became a dictator). If my
memory is correct all of these were achieved by
presidents who were not only educated but well suited
for the job. In fact GMA managed to increased our GNP
by 6% this year, its a small progress but it was
something that was never achieved by a college
drop-out president. I remember Boots Cadsawan
mentioned that Ho Chi Minh was just a gardener, but
managed to make Vietnam more progressive than us. The
political system of Vietnam is different form ours
therefore they should not be compared, besides
majority of progressive countries are undoubtly ruled
by skilled leaders.

Moreover I do not believe that FPJ can influence the
Filipinos to be united. The Filipino is divided by the
idea of him running for president, the Filipino will
still remain divided with the Idea iof him being the
president. He could not even unite the opposition to
have a common presidential candidate, how the hell can
he unify the whole country?


Ahmad.

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Hey Ahmad, I'm impressed! Your professor in Philo... uhm... I forgot the course code... anyway,..... he must be very proud of you.


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