It's because they are discussing the plans for their next in-person Linux conference and whether they should require vaccinations.

If you click on the two previous messages and the two followup messages it is pretty clear that the discussion makes total sense (organizing in-person conferences), and that a moderator stepped in to stop the conspiracy-theory tangent before it devolves into a flamewar.

It's just an impression that things are different. Newsgroups couple of decades ago had just as much off-topic or purely trolly politics.