Just before Christmas, one of the most heated threads in the history of the Aussie Meme Team Facebook group erupted and was locked by a moderator after 546 comments.



A user posted a screenshot of a viral tweet that compared the emergency response from Australia's current prime minister, Scott Morrison, to that of two former leaders.

Naturally, it didn't take long before commenters started to argue about the cause of Australia's bushfires, the role of arsonists, and whether the world's climate is changing.



Australia is experiencing one of its worst bushfire seasons on record, and coverage of the crisis has dominated the media as politicians and columnists argue ferociously about why, exactly, the fires are so bad.

We're all familiar with shockingly off-topic Facebook fights. But group admins and users say the wall-to-wall bushfire drama is spilling over into online communities — even those completely irrelevant to climate change, bushfires and politics.