Depression’s danger lies in its claim to reveal final truth

Evidence

That is why Joy Division can be a very dangerous drug for young men. They seem to be presenting The Truth (they present themselves as doing so). Their subject, after all, is depression. Not sadness or frustration, rock’s standard downer states, but depression: depression, whose difference from mere sadness consists in its claim to have uncovered The (final, unvarnished) Truth about life and desire. — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, 139

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle: how art that presents depression as truth-making can become dangerous for young male audiences, and the ethics of ‘truthful’ depressive art.
• XREF: connects to: Depression is a philosophical disposition, not merely sadness or a state of mind — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 141; Depressive ontology seduces because it is half true — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 144; Depression constitutes a theory of the world, marshaling instances as evidence — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 138