There is a different between trying new things – which real and respectable scientists do all the time – and continuing to beat the drum of a long-discredited idea (plasma cosmology) or an idea that was never worthwhile and that could be dismissed on the face of it in the first place (Velikovskian catastrophism).
It’s not worth inviting students to read and learn about plasma cosmology, because it will take them nowhere. It’s a dead end, something that doesn’t work and doesn’t have anything to offer. We have them learn a little about Aristotelean physics because that’s their intuition, and they need to learn that their intuition will lead them astray, and that they have to train themselves out of Aristotlean thinking. But there’s no need to teach them about plasma cosmology, or any of the other huge variety of other ideas that have been out there (better and worse) as alternatives to what has worked, if your goal is to help people share our best understanding of the Universe. Were plasma cosmology a viable alternative, then, sure, but it’s not. It’s just a waste of time. The only reason people like Bridgman deal with it (and with creationism in astronomy) is because there are people out there still selling creationism, and still selling plasma cosmology, and other people come along and get sucked in by it. I’ve seen some of my students stumble across a website or a YouTube video and think that there might be something to this plasma cosmology stuff. It’s a trap, that leads people astray, because it’s all very sexy and well-presented. As in any other field, there is a lot of wrong stuff on the Internet. While it’s pretty clear to an astronomer like me where plasma cosmology falls down and why it’s not worth the time, it’s not clear to students or to members of the general public. Hence, the only reason to tell them about it is to warn them about it-- innoculate them from it, as it were-- in case they stumble across it and may get sucked in by it.
