This narrative is way too simple. The US-American Frank Bursley Taylor proposed something like condinental drift even before Wegener. One of Wegeners early opponents, Hans Cloos, nevertheless held him in high regard. Despite his dissent from the mainstream, he received a professorship in Graz.

The opposition against him at the time was well justified. His theory lacked a convincing explanation about the driving force of plate tectonics, which he identified as tidal and centrifugal forces in his early theory. (The extent to which these forces contribute to plate tectonics is still disputed today.) It was only later (after he had drawn the harsh criticism quoted in the article) that he considered convection currents as the main driving force.