It might also just depend in if you are good friends with someone or not. Anyone I consider a friend I could have a real conversation with about current events, but people revert to orthodoxy when talking to people they are unsure around. Reading definitely helps with critical thinking, but I think most regurgitation just comes from not being your friend. (And I've hypothesized there are actually large social groups that are not really friends. Anyone you would have to consider "political correctness" around for example. I think these larger groups do exist and call each other friends, and just regurgitate at each other. But I think it's that they're afraid of each other, of being denounced as a heretic, not that they don't read)