A fear of being manipulated can become a route by which suspicion manipulates you.

Suspicion can be steered as easily as trust. Once you are determined not to be taken in, the way to influence you is simply to point at something as suspect, and your own vigilance does the rest. The defence becomes the handle, and it feels like independent judgment the whole way.

When you find yourself certain that something is a manipulation, ask who benefits from you believing that. Apply the same scepticism to the warning as to the claim. Vigilance that never turns on itself is not vigilance, it is a preference with better manners.