>> Well... there *have* been scientific theories which were considered 
>> ridiculous for a long time, which eventually turned out to be correct. 
> 
>   I think this happened mostly at the latter half of the 1800's and very
> early in the 1900's.
> 
>   While arrogant people will always exist, I think the scientific community
> as a whole has learned its lesson and got mostly over this kind of mentality
> after relativity and quantum mechanics basically showed that almost
> everything we thought we know is inaccurate.

There wre still lively debates about, e.g., whether H. floresiensis is a 
"real" new species or a small group of diseased H. sapiens specimins. 
Some claim that this absolutely is a brand new species, for a whole long 
list of reasons. And others simply laugh at the idea and claim it's pure 
moonshine. But...

>   New plausible theories are not immediately shut down and ridiculed.

...I think this is the bottom line. There is a contraversy here, rather 
than a "X is false, end of discussion".

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