Then something really strange happened: I stopped caring about the affiliations and really focused on the veracity of their statements.
But it's not just how truthful the statement is, it also covers "why am I considering this statement at all?".
And the answer "because someone I trust has had the same problem, considered the available options, and recommends X" is very different to "because someone who works for X says use X".
If you spent your entire life only listening to those that you "trust" and if you define trust in terms of those that agree with you, you end up in an intellectual bubble. It is incredibly important that you at least consider what people are saying.
But it's not just how truthful the statement is, it also covers "why am I considering this statement at all?".
And the answer "because someone I trust has had the same problem, considered the available options, and recommends X" is very different to "because someone who works for X says use X".