Comment by glenstein

>But the other common denominator is Nguyen

You could say the same of James Randi. But the explanation in Randi's case was that he really was dealing with charlatans, mentalists, etc. I don't think there's enough signal just from Nguyen disagreeing to think that he is the common denominator, though it's possible and you're being thoughtfully tentative about the possibility.

I would also say that scientifically non-respectable theories finding big traction in the online influencer space is the norm, and not especially difficult to explain.