Well you have to relate to what you do know. The more definitive a piece of knowledge is the greater its significance if something does not jive. I have in discourse mentioned something akin to X does not make sense to me because Y. I often get a your not an expert response but thinking for yourself means you do need to act as the expert for what you know. You should be ready to learn that something you knew was false but not on the drop of a dime but if someone has good sources and logic then certainly. Then also try to be informed by as many reputable sources as possible. So anything that is an academic subject you should see what PhD professors from reputable institutions (universities that have been around for at least 50 years and of course accredited) have written or said. If you have not I would consider it something you need to look into. If your talking about political and societal things though and you have to just do the best you can to make sure the information you are getting is accurate and use what you currently know to see if it makes sense. Ok so lets take a decisive topic. trans rights. So you have to look at what you know about human rights to begin with. gay rights, womens rights, the fact of slavery and how we have dealt with it. So you have to decide how you feel around the philosphy of human rights. Do all humans deserve equal treatment and is that even enough. You have likely seen the equality/equity memes and that compares treatment to outcomes. Ultimately you have to engage in the ideas and decide what is right for yourself and then move that forward to the particular modern thing.