No Santa, Huh? Prove It!

* From “The A**HOLE’S Guide To Arguing (Or, How To Succeed In Politics)”

It is the job of the accuser to prove someone's guilt, and not the job of the accused to prove his innocence. Share on X

When the burden of proof fallacy is committed, the opposite happens. Here the accuser wants the accused to disprove his claim.

“Judge, this guy is a murderer. He killed his neighbour with an axe.”
“I haven’t killed anyone. I wasn’t even there when it happened.”
“Really? Then I suppose you wouldn’t mind proving it.”

Some of the more annoying cases of the burden of proof fallacy is where the claim cannot be proven false. As I have said before, how can you prove that something does not exist?

“I tell you, Santa is real. As real as I am. I have seen him.”
“For God’s sake! Even children know that Santa is not real. There is no Santa!”
“No Santa, huh? Prove it! If you can’t, then shut up.”

You can exchange the word ‘Santa’ for unicorns, mermaids, round squares – anything that we can be certain does not exist. Now, try to prove it. Try to prove that something does not exist. Where would you even start?

As most of you are aware, ‘the absence of proof, is not the proof of absence’. Just because you can not find it, or find any evidence to suggest it, does not mean it does not exist.

Until the Panda was ‘discovered’ by Westerners in 1869, it was believed to be a myth, just like the Yeti.

All you can do here is point to the obvious, that there is no evidence to suggest that Santa exist. That the existence of such a person would be highly unlikely given the laws of physics. And, that the burden of proof rests upon the person making the claim.

© Merlyn Gabriel Miller