It was only a product of the zeitgeist. This was the era of Unsolved Mysteries jumbling missing-person cold cases with urban legends. All the wild shit referenced in Deus Ex was presented as though it should be taken seriously. Plus UFOs, crop circles, cryptids... what sticks out in my mind was a segment about footage of a cave entrance, and freeze-frames of 'snake-like flying insects unknown to science.' It was a long exposure of a moth. The camcorder's light was on and its shutter angle was wide open. My dad said as much, at the time, and I could not figure out how to square that with the serious tone of the program. If it was that simple, why would they go on television and lie about it?
I think American culture used to be much more credulous toward paranormal bullshit. Uri Gellar and whatnot. Psychic powers, telekinesis, dowsing rods... Miss Cleo. Religious cranks doing their think-of-the-children routine about Ouija boards and crystal energy as if the woo-woo nonsense might work. There's still a quarter of the population that's gullible as shit, but now they're fixated on right-wing propaganda specifically. They're antivax climate denialists, not free-form cranks who think the moon landing was fake and wrestling is real.
All of that contrarian energy has been co-opted by fascists.