What I have noticed is that many Muslims want to feel a part of something; they want to feel they are involved in a movement; they want to participate in the affairs of the Ummah, and to feel that they are doing something important. They form ad hoc groups to support this or that cause; Palestine, the Syrian revolution, etc; with members drawn from regular people who do not necessarily KNOW about the issues, but care about them.
A few people from among them become their resident “experts” by usually Googling information and taking it from sources that adhere to their preexisting assumptions. They then organize lectures in mosques and interviews online or fundraising events, and they create Facebook pages. They often do a lot of good, but they also often perpetuate false narratives, and play fast and loose with facts. You need more than Google to understand what is going on in the world; you need the intellectual tools for processing the information you collect.
Now, I am not saying that you can’t get a great deal of information from Google; of course you can. But, from what I see, a lot of brothers and sisters are not approaching their research honestly or seriously. They are gathering information exclusively to become advocates, not to become educated. Since very few, if any, situations are black and white, this approach to information inevitably leads to deception.
Whenever we see these people, because we believe in the virtue of their intention, we deal with them very gently, in my opinion. But, no, you should be tough. Question them, challenge them, and investigate what they say. And I do not exempt myself from this advice. No one should take anyone’s word for it, about anything, just because you think they are good or decent or well-intentioned. The issues we are facing, and that they are appointing themselves to talk about, are too important.
On the same note, we have a tendency to think someone must be knowledgeable about every topic simply because he or she is knowledgeable about one topic. Like, if someone is a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, we think that means they are educated and intelligent, and therefore, anything they have to say about a complex geopolitical issue must be sound. Of course, this isn’t true at all. An Astrophysicist may not even know how to make a sandwich, and a pediatrician may be completely ignorant about economics.
Do your own research, and do it honestly, and never hesitate to question “experts”.