And the very (mis)labelling of "depression" is part of the abusive structure of consumerism to pathologise you as a way to sell you solutions to your weakness a

And the very (mis)labelling of "depression" is part of the abusive structure of consumerism to pathologise you as a way to sell you solutions to your weakness against it :) Overall this is a well written and cogent piece, although largely a rehash of Erik Fromm's thoughts on reification from 60 years ago (the author, Schumaker, acknowledges Fromm's "frame of orientation") "unlike most forms of depression, demoralisation is a realistic response to the circumstances impinging on the person’s life" As Fromm put it, a sane reaction to an insane world. Raoul Naroll's "Moral net" makes a refreshing appearance. I see the destruction of support networks and moral vocabulary all around. While Schumaker claims demoralisation was limited to extreme situations, in my lifetime I have witnessed it as active anti-morale attacks, first from advertising industry entirely designed around sapping self-esteem, then an unholy alliance of "industry" and education systems that profit from intellectual insecurity and most recently from "social media" and big-tech domination of communication channels hell-bent on corroding our sense of personal agency. There is some redemption in making the battle against the ennui of consumerism have meaning in itself, as the pursuit of cultural deprogramming, Optimistically, the "moral net" can be restored, but only by defeating its overt and very visible enemies.