How we can all, in easy steps, defeat disinformation and fake news and save democracy

Comment published on New York Times online blog, in response to opinion essay by Renée DiResta, “What we now know about Russian disinformation,” December 17, 2018:

There is a cure for manipulation of thinking by false news and disinformation.
These rely upon the weak ways most people form political opinions.
1) They decide what issues are important based on news they read about or see.
2) The thought is empirical: This claim is made true by its reliance on this (true?) fact.  

Beyond careful choice of news sources, there is another way to go about forming opinions. They can be based on:
a) sound reasoning, and
b) assessment of what one cares about, which presumably does not derive from the news.  

One can learn how to evaluate the reasoning in arguments and not simply rely upon simplistic justification of claims with reference to putative facts or principles.

American children are increasingly not taught this in school. They are 'taught' (or told, ordered) to believe the right set of facts, the ones presented by the teacher and the textbook. Multiple-choice tests test memory of facts and compliance with instructions of what to believe.  

There is a discipline of thinking that is very important to political thought and judgment. It is philosophy. In philosophical arguments, it is the better reason or argumentation that is belief-worthy. Facts play a subordinate role at best. Values are contested this way.  

Citizens, don't form your political views from facts. Read political theory.
Liars find it harder to manipulate people who think.  

Else, welcome the tyrant who decides on what is.