To me it is about gaslighting and arguing for the sake of arguing. We’ve long been in this realm of society now where nobody wants facts or truths, they just want you to be wrong. I have before, cited resources in arguments I’ve shamefully invested in, knowing that it will not matter in the end. Because I’m still going to be called a liar, I’m still going to be subjected to insults and be baited and gaslit.
And the same people still turn around and expect credible sources to be provided to them? Why ask when you don’t care?
It is one thing for someone to make outrageous, blatant and unclaimed arguments than it is another who talks of something and it has a resemblance of truth to it.
I often ask for source.
And sometimes I find that it’s headlines that are sensationalist or a specific interpretation of something.
Like, someone claims ‘XYZ believes/supports in ABC’, often to paint XYZ badly. I ask for source on it and they give an article where the XYZ is talking about something related to ABC or talking with someone related to ABC
I also ask for source, because of that.
As an example:
I had heard lots of anti-socialist stuff like the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact, USSR invaded Poland etc. After joining lemmy and some reddit subs, I came to know about how the USSR was one of the last countries to create a non-aggression pact and other countries like Britain, France already had pacts and agreements. And that it happened after the Munich agreement where Britain, France and Italy came togethe to allow the Nazis annexation of Czechoslovakia.
I also learnt about how Poland invaded Czechoslovakia together with Nazi Germany and also denied USSR’s request asking permission for passage of its army to Czechoslovakia against the Nazi invasion.
So, I understand the value of asling for source and getting the context.
I do try to share sources as possible too. Though, it’s mostly wikipedia articles and may not be seen as a primary sources, but still.
1934 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German–Polish_declaration_of_non-aggression
1935 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-German_Naval_Agreement
1938 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement
1939 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov–Ribbentrop_Pact
So everyone had pacts and agreements with everyone, but when taken out of context and presented to denigrate, it has an effect on some.
So, generally I ask for source or context for most things