Reality is black or white. Science is the attempt to fit theories to observations of reality. When a theory doesn't account for recent cooling (or they just write it off as a random fluke that doesn't matter), then it's time for a new theory. The new theory will hopefully be a little less gray than the old one, but it won't be black or white (and will never be).
Your answer is obviously more nuanced and I stand corrected. Consensus in science is occasionally essential to move a theory forward but it can also be a cancer that prevents investigation and exploration. Remember it was not too long ago, in earth terms, the “consensus” was the earth was flat.