Michael Forsman 224 al., 2011) (that address all UN’s member states, including nu- merous dictatures) the term “critical” is used 42 times (on 192 pages), mainly as part of “critical thinking”, which in is defined as: “the ability to examine and analyze information and ideas in order to understand and assess their values and assumptions, rather than simply taking propositions at face value” (ibid, p. 182). In the renewed edition of UNESCO: s MIL-curriculum, Critical, think wisely! Media & information literacy curriculum for educators and learners (GRIZZLE, WILSON; GORDON, 2021), the term critical appear almost twice as often (156 times on 388 pages) but now it has a wider semantic scope; including critical pedagogy, critical engagement, critical consciousness. We could here also mention Google’s media literacy curriculum “Be In- ternet Awesome” that try to teach kids (5–8 yrs.)”the principles of digital citizenship and safety so they can explore the online world with confidence” through their teachers (beinternetawe- some.withgoogle.com). In this “interactive and fun game” (Interland) the player is supposed to learn “digital safety and citi- zenship” by helping fellow “Internauts” in combating “badly be- haved hackers, phishers, oversharers, and bullies” (ibid). There are many campaigns like this and a growing critique this as an instrumental policy approach that challenges media literacy as a tradition of Bildung, pedagogic progression and transformation (DROTNER, et. al, 2017; FORSMAN, 2020; WALLIS; BUCKING- HAM, 201 In 3) e . xamples like the ones above we can see that the ideal of being and becoming “critical” is reduced to a matter of fact checking and rather individualized forms of understanding criti- cal thinking. There are tensions between the assumed universality of critical thinking and the more political and implications of critical consciousness; since the latter is about becoming aware of yourself as a historical and political subject and the challenge to an unjustifiable status quo (BURBULES; BERK, 1999; COWDEN; SINGH, 2015). This tension between individual cogni- tion (POTTER, 2004) and communal action (KELLNER; SHARE, 2019; MIHAILIDIS, 2018) is notable also within the field of me- dia literacy, where Buckingham (2003) emphasis the impor- tance of the critical approach. If media education is to become “a life changing experience”. He also rhetorically asks, “who defines
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