Answer

Y., hello.
I don’t see any connection between respect and critical thinking. On the contrary: if there is a person I respect, I should relate to his words seriously, and therefore critically. When someone may not be criticized, that actually expresses disrespect for his words (as if they are not worth serious consideration). Someone who says sensible things also need not fear criticism, and in fact he should even encourage it, including when it is directed at his own words. You can be careful to speak politely while expressing a critical position, and certainly a different position. All the more so since declaring someone “one of the greats of the generation” is usually unfounded. It is propaganda on behalf of someone whose honor I want to promote (“After all, all the greats of the generation think such-and-such,” where the “such-and-such” just happens to be exactly what I and my camp think). This is a common and accepted Haredi method. To see this, you only have to ask the Haredim what “all the greats of the generation” say about the Kav and about Har Hamor.
 
Regarding the attitude toward the Temple Mount, I do not understand why you cannot formulate your own worldview as you understand it, especially since there are rabbis no less great who think in your direction. In my experience, usually when the substantive arguments run out, the hurt feelings, labels of heresy, and appeals to rabbinic honor begin. When there are substantive arguments, people raise them and do not resort to demagoguery of this kind.
 
The concept of “the great of the generation” in its current usage has indeed undergone an expansion that has no basis. Both in terms of what it obligates (that one may not disagree, or that he determines everything), and in terms of who is even considered one of the greats of the generation (and whether there even is such a thing). And again, when substantive arguments run out, people turn to arguments from authority and invent “the great of the generation,” and the like.
 
Let me just draw your attention to an interesting, though not surprising, phenomenon. For some reason, those of your friends who lean toward Har Hamor (the Kav) all oppose dealing with the Temple Mount. Is it a coincidence that all devotees of Har Hamor oppose the various Temple Mount movements? In my eyes, this is an indication that this is a herd that does not form its positions independently, but is swept along after “the greats of the generation” and repeats their mantras. As stated, in the absence of reasons and substantive arguments, they rely on “the great of the generation” (while of course you yourself decide who counts as the great of the generation and who does not).
 
One more comment (maybe I wrote it in that column). In most cases I know, arguments about relying on “the greats of the generation” and the prohibition against deviating from tradition are raised by those who themselves suffer from exactly that. Har Hamor as a whole follows a line that deviates from all the greats of the generation and from all the traditions we possess in many respects. In my understanding, that is the reason they wave around “the greats of the generation” and “tradition.” Someone who constantly brandishes something fanatically and accuses everyone else on that issue may be presumed to be fighting something that is gnawing inside him (deep down he understands that these are the points where he is weak. As the saying goes: one who disqualifies does so by his own blemish). On this matter I very much recommend reading the books of Chaim Grade (more or less autobiographical), The Yeshiva and The Agunah. These books tell of a yeshiva headmaster (whose name is Tsemakh Atlas) who fought furiously against the passions and heresy of his students, while he himself was inwardly consumed by both. Opposed to him stands the figure of the author of Hazon Ish (the Hazon Ish), who was inwardly harmonious and serene, and therefore not fanatical outwardly.
 
In closing, do not be discouraged. I strongly recommend that you listen to all the arguments you hear, from all directions, but in the end form a position of your own. Do not be afraid of authorities and all kinds of ad hominem arguments. They have no basis at all, and they are usually a substitute for argument on the substantive level. Of course, even if you have formed a position, you should take into account that perhaps you are mistaken; after all, you are still only in tenth grade, and that of course happens to people at every age (including the greats of the generation). But a judge has only what his eyes can see, and the Torah was not given to ministering angels.