Sometimes is gets to the point where dissenting voices are praised just because they dissent, not because their dissent actually has any value. Being a heretic seems to have become a mark of pride among academics in the humanities. Which means that seeking to put oneself outside the consensus becomes a way of seeking status. Where what should be sought is a better consensus. The proponents of plate tectonics were not trying to achieve status by being heretics. And a heretic is a lot more likely to be wrong than right, it's just that everyone thinks they're the next Galileo.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo