From Unfocusgroup.org

High Priests

Orthodoxies tend to come about because some people are considered "experts" in their field. At one stage their ideas may even have been considered radical. However, as a school of thought develops around those ideas, a discipline emerges, and the "expert" becomes a high priest. Disciples of the original high priest tend to follow the faith blindly. Perhaps it may be the charisma of the leader, or some other characteristic, that motivates them. At the start, the ideas may have been valid and compelling, but as time goes on, the movement becomes less reflective and more unquestioning. This is how orthodoxies and high priesthoods develop.

A prime example of a high priesthood is the cringeworthy Brights movement.

Everybody is a High Priest now

One would think that the internet, being an interactive medium, would help to destroy high priesthoods. The broadcast media, which was once controlled by a few high priests, has been replaced by a 2-way paradigm where anybody can interact and question authority.

This is a good thing for us, but we must not be complacent. The forces of social conservatism are very much alive, and embedded in the psyche of most of the population. In a way, the interactive nature of the internet has created another set of mini-high-priests, particularly in the form of high-profile bloggers.

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