Not my takeaway at all...if the teen in the article didnt have an unusually high amount of critical thinking, meeting in person would have not have changed much.

Critical thinking? As the story presents it, his conversions to and from alt-right were entirely emotion based.

That was not my interpretation at all, especially in the part where he interviews marchers and finds that some of their beliefs are "internally inconsistent"

What do their beliefs matter, if his own are consistent? That's just association fallacy.

We're literally talking about how this teen decided who is trustworthy. As pointed out in the article, googling around to confirm GAVE HIM "confirmation". Recognizing that their views fell apart under inspection despite the previous confirmation required (as written, at least) above-average critical thinking.

This is a little too... optimistic in my opinion. I dislike both nazis and commies, but it seems clear to me that there are deep and irreconcilable value and cultural conflicts at play in society. Ultimately, these groups do not "speak the same language of Good and Evil," as Nietzsche would say, and are potential precursors to new societies. They should be allowed to part ways, permanently, in my opinion.

How can any of us part ways permanently? We're all inhabiting the same world.

Well, this world has formal boundaries we call borders. Beyond that, it's a big universe...

I know this sounds a bit glib, but I'm deadly serious about this. There are geopolitical complications, yes, as well as some additional complexity when it comes to commerce, but all in all, more regime diversity seems like a good path towards lessened internal social tension.