I'm not sure what kind of strawman you're building here. Are you thinking that I'm arguing that all or even most norm-breakers are proven correct? I am arguing only that some norm breakers turn out to be prescient and thus overconfidence based on norms alone is treacherous and bound to be proven wrong at times as we learn more, and Normalcy Bias often prevents people from adequately assessing that risk. Here's another wikipedia link!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias

A "strawman" ? you said, "One of the first proponents for hand washing and hygiene during medical practice wound up dying in a mental asylum."

Maybe if you'd added, "of course, lots of people who wound up dying in a mental asylum are forgotten, with good reason" then I would've had nothing to say.

As it was, you cited an example as though that proved anything.

> what about all the people who challenged what was "considered normal socially" and actually were proven wrong?

There are not many of those, because of herd mentality. (Edit: I mean Normalcy Bias, thanks "notabee")

If a person is unusual enough, they are dismissed as cranks without any sort of proof required.

This isn't even a response to anything.

notabee held up one example, which is relevant only if the argument was "everyone who challenges the norms is insane." That would be a counterexample, and only one is required.

as for "There are not many of those" I don't even know what to say. Of course those people were forgotten and there are no citations, because they weren't newsworthy. That was the whole point.