Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
With that reasoning you can say that you need to question every statement made. But that is not a useful principle.
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Don't start me on that one. I used to have a teacher, who would answer every statement someone might make with this: "Do you have reference for that?" (Mostly only being satisfied with a reference to some sort of scientific work written by a Ph.D. or a professor.) It always felt as if he was questioning one's own ability to think for themselves.
If one says "The pitbull will easily kill a chihuahua if they get into a serious fight", then you don't need to back that up. It's quite obvious and logical, to anyone who knows both typs of dogs. There is an enormous size, strength and biting power disparity between them that makes the outcome of a serious fight rather predictable.
However, if someone says "Men refuse to read women authors because they don't like character-driven stories", then you'd better back that up with some data, preferably data that shows that men don't like character-driven stories, and that women only write character-driven stories. If you don't, then the statement is useless, because anyone could say anything they like.