Great post. This echos very much with the plot line of Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People", a great play if you have the opportunity to see it.

It’s easy to sympathize with the embattled Stockmann when he fights for public health; less so when he delivers a fiery rant against the tyranny of an ignorant majority over an educated minority. Mr. Cole fully comes into his own as Stockmann turns his last stand into a grandstand about the “majority getting what it wants.” For him, that amounts to the “gang rape” of democracy.

Being ostracized only reinforces the doctor’s messiah complex. In this society, you can be corrupt or you can be a zealot. What bleak options this thought-provoking show offers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/theater/public-enemy-review.html

This other steemit post also capture a dynamic of this as well:

For those who have been around CFT for while, look back and remember where some "celebrities" of today started, what they took advantage of, and how the very things they were against turned out to be their greater weapons for their careers. I am not sure yet if honesty, individualism and tough love are the way to go in life even if I chose to honor these qualities myself. If you want to be rich, successful and famous then blend in, lie, manipulate and use the masses in a way they will never understand. It is pretty easy to do if you ask me. Politicians, actors, promoters of "all things nice" and other influencers are doing this everyday and obtain thousands of followers and friends. You rather have to if you want to make it big.

Remember, the more people you have following you the more you have to dilute yourself to satisfy every single one. The more you dilute and over-generalize, the more you become yet another religion, a dogma that appeals to numbers. Your followers become your fuel and you start treating them like assets so they can maintain your fame.

https://steemit.com/freethought/@kyriacos/the-most-important-lesson-i-learned-while-running-a-freethought-foundation