Why do people keep referencing World War II when talking about covid?

[Covine]

They're not the same at all. The restrictions aren't the same at all. The causes and consequences aren't the same at all. Plus there are plenty of people globally who are actually dealing with both war and pandemic and know that they are two separate things and also know that lots of bad things happened in the world between World War II and now.

It's just weird. Why do people do this?

Did some quick research. Children who did not evacuate had no schooling, or free milk, etc. About a million apparently. Those who evacuated did, but sometimes in a second shift after locals had been taught.

Did some quick research. Children who did not evacuate had no schooling, or free milk, etc. About a million apparently. Those who evacuated did, but sometimes in a second shift after locals had been taught.

I understand the comparison on a societal level, i.e. that we're not witnessing the End Times and society will eventually recover from the upheaval as it has done in the past. It pisses me off when people use it as a response to individuals who are struggling, though - someone starts a thread about missing their friends and family due to the restrictions, and another poster inevitably pipes up with "Well my granny got evacuated in WW2, this generation are all snowflakes, you need some more resilience" blah blah blah.

It's only ever on the coronavirus posts as well. I've never seen anyone go to the Relationships board and say "Oh, you're sad about getting divorced? Well my grandfather fought at Normandy, maybe you should get some perspective". Even though their opinion would be equally relevant there.

It’s nothing like the war.
One of the things that got people through the war was getting together, singing in air raid shelters, dance halls, pubs, cafes. People pulling together IN PERSON to help others. All this keeps morale up.

@psychomath I agree with the two individual examples that you’ve given there but that’s part of what I’m getting at. Individual statements can be taken in their own right, to dismiss all examples generically doesn’t take into account the nuances and valid points of other examples,

It's only ever on the coronavirus posts as well. I've never seen anyone go to the Relationships board and say "Oh, you're sad about getting divorced? Well my grandfather fought at Normandy, maybe you should get some perspective". Even though their opinion would be equally relevant there

That’s part of another phenomenon imho. You see it loads on here in particular around things like Mother’s Day eg. people post about their mother they dislike being told to be grateful because someone else’s mother is dead. It just betrays a very narrow view point and lack of ability to empathise outside their own situation.

@Gruffaloandmouse but to counteract that people were separated from their loved ones by war with their husbands and sons sent away to fight.

I think that a lot of people were absolutely isolated by their circumstances and it wasn’t all dance halls and neighbours helping each other out. The same social politics were still at play with people judging what others did/had. Again it’s not a direct comparison but there are similarities.

I reference WW2 in one respect, the number of civilian deaths in the UK. The reason I do so is two fold, one to point out the seriousness of the impact of Covid 19, and the second because I believe that with prompt action in March and September, a significant number of these deaths would not have happened.