I appreciate your response greatly. I very much doubt you are dumb, and it sounds like you're rapidly becoming less naive, so kudos.

There is a great deal of literature on propaganda, and in my opinion the best place to learn is from the enemy. Thankfully, the greatest propagandists of the previous century were more than willing to explain exactly what they were doing. Perhaps the most important to learn of is Edward Bernays, and here is one pretty decent resource explaining some of his work. Best, of course, would be to read his books, such as Crystallizing Public Opinion.

A more comprehensive (longer) video resource, which contains a great deal of information unfortunately uses an editing style I and others might find somewhat off-putting and potentially manipulative, can be found here.

Please keep in mind that no one is perfect, and neither of these sources should be automatically considered any more reliable than the story I claimed likely phony. But either of these are great resources for finding ideas/topics to research further. It is very important to cease to see media as sources of truth, but rather as a way to discover topics worth researching yourself (this post included).

Finally, it is very important to learn basic logic. While taking a college course on introductory logic (typically within philosophy departments) would be an excellent way to do this, you can also self-educate just by searching Wikipedia, or YouTube, or anywhere else. I personally like using this Logical Fallacy Ref album, because they let you learn quickly, and then you can link them to quickly and easily point out false arguments in social media arenas such as Reddit.

It seems like you've got a good head on your shoulders and in intention to learn. The key is to consider everything (especially things your emotions tell you not to consider), but to consider them carefully. Don't be lazy and you won't ever be screwed. I wish you way more than luck, my friend.