> It's like asking for data to prove gravity exists.
This is at least how physics majors start. From first principles. You know, scientists.
Getting emotional due to your own assumptions about someone else usually effects the exact opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. Which, I assume, is mutual understanding.
> Asking for data implies it's yet to be proven
No, why?
> Do you have data disproving the current academic consensus?
How often has consensus failed, even very recently? If the data is strong, what harm is there in reiterating the data and the conclusions out of it so that everyone understands?
I’m not saying this from a high horse. Over the years I’ve had many emotional moments when challenged about what is true or right. In hindsight most of these moments came from my own inability to exactly lay out the logical chain of an argument that I’d made, where I’d followed the consensus.