Full of passion but lacking in substance

This is a reaction to Conrado de Quiros’ column titled “Looking ahead.” (Inquirer, 1/19/12) Honestly, I am one of the many readers who find the articles of De Quiros full of passion but lacking in substance. Well, I admire him for the beauty and color of the words he uses, words so powerful that they stir the emotions, words woven in the thread of consistency and riches of life, but not convincing. In Logic 101, his arguments would fall under the fallacy “ad populum” (appealing to the people purely through emotions).

De Quiros is so eager to see Chief Justice Renato Corona removed from office, or convicted by the impeachment court, and publicly humiliated. Well, obviously, if you ask why, he would reply: For the sake of the Filipino people, for the country, for public interest and so on and so forth. Perhaps the “people” he is referring to are the product of his literary imagination. Pardon me for using this logical fallacy—just to remind De Quiros that millions of our people are not affected by the impeachment case, directly or indirectly, for they are focused on surviving every passing day or on studying in classrooms to learn to be brilliant and wise, not to be fallacious.

Who is De Quiros then to say the Chief Justice counts among the dying? The Chief Justice is not dying. De Quiros is. The prosecutors, too. They are all dying to find solid grounds to convict the Chief Justice. Just like the prosecutors who are so prepared for press conferences but not for the impeachment trial, De Quiros, who masterfully writes his opinions, has a penchant for grandstanding. His style is purely rhetoric.

Perhaps after this, De Quiros will write again against Corona, embarrassing him through the use of his pen or keyboard. And just in case Corona will be convicted, it would be wise to award De Quiros for his columns against him and in “awakening” the minds of the people.

Anyway, I am grateful to De Quiros, one, for his articles which stimulate my heart and, two, for his weak reasoning which inspires me to depart from a fallacy.

—CARLOS ERWIN FAJARDO,

fajardocarloserwin@yahoo.com