how to deal with revisionism?
sethg: Let's say that in 10% of controversies of this nature, The Scientific Consensus is wrong and the revisionists are actually correct.  I personally don't have time to review every controversy in enough depth to decide which ones belong to that 10%.  For issues that I care about I may read enough critical work to form an opinion about whether or not the critics are kooks, and if they aren't kooks, then I may do enough follow-up reading to decide whether or not they are right.  For issues that I really care about I may learn enough that I can advance arguments for one side or the other in my own words.  For issues that I don't have time to look at, I assume that The Scientific Consensus is correct.As Carl Sagan said, they laughed at Galileo and they laughed at Einstein, but they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.