I was reading an online discussion in another forum where a claim was made and someone asked for evidence to support the claim. The claimant believed that his claim was as obvious as a claim that "the sky is blue" and felt that asking for evidence for that was unreasonable. He felt that the person asking for evidence knew nothing about the topic and that he was being presumptuous by jumping into a debate and challenging claims regarding a topic he knew nothing about - as if he was requesting a basic 101 level essay.
I've seen similar discussions here on RF, where someone might request evidence, and a common retort might be "Google it" or "I'm not here to do your homework for you." One might also be accused of Sealioning in which someone repeatedly asks for evidence which has already been provided or makes arguments which have already been answered and refuted.
Can a request for evidence even be considered insulting? (I'm thinking of times when the Walmart greeter asks to see my receipt upon leaving the store, essentially asking me to prove that I paid for the items I have with me. Some people might be offended by that, viewing it as an implied accusation of theft, while others might be annoyed by the delay itself.)
Can some requests for evidence be made disingenuously? That is, someone might make an odd or extraordinary claim, and someone asks for evidence, knowing full well that not a shred of evidence exists to support the odd claim?
On that note, it is often said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, but how does one differentiate between an "extraordinary" claim and an ordinary claim?
I've seen similar discussions here on RF, where someone might request evidence, and a common retort might be "Google it" or "I'm not here to do your homework for you." One might also be accused of Sealioning in which someone repeatedly asks for evidence which has already been provided or makes arguments which have already been answered and refuted.
Can a request for evidence even be considered insulting? (I'm thinking of times when the Walmart greeter asks to see my receipt upon leaving the store, essentially asking me to prove that I paid for the items I have with me. Some people might be offended by that, viewing it as an implied accusation of theft, while others might be annoyed by the delay itself.)
Can some requests for evidence be made disingenuously? That is, someone might make an odd or extraordinary claim, and someone asks for evidence, knowing full well that not a shred of evidence exists to support the odd claim?
On that note, it is often said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, but how does one differentiate between an "extraordinary" claim and an ordinary claim?