I used to think exclusively like this. One danger with this approach is that you can easily spend too much time researching complete garbage like the latest Q

I used to think exclusively like this. One danger with this approach is that you can easily spend too much time researching complete garbage like the latest Q Anon conspiracy theory, on the assumption that the people posting it have done more research and are smarter than you. See also anti-vax stuff, anti-mask stuff etc. Eventually you need to decide that some people are just willfully ignorant and not very clever.