On another note, I wonder if susceptibility to far-right misinformation is purely a critical thinking issue and not also about a lack of cultural/intersectional self-reflection and awareness.

So I read a lot of psychology by researchers looking at things like decision making and bias, and I’ve seen several of them acknowledge falling prey to the same things they research. Additionally, being better at logic makes you better at motivated reasoning.

Knowledge is absolutely valuable (and gives you tools to identify the failures after the fact, which has its own value), but your belief that self evaluation and a consistent effort to improve your process is also critically important is accurate. If you don’t make the effort, the knowledge doesn’t do a lot.

Edit: A source for the motivated reasoning, though it’s something I’ve seen referenced by a lot of sources with a variety of different original research behind it.