The Fatalism of the Great Depression

I come from a generation of people whose fundamental view was that the society had failed. When the Great Recession happened in 2007 to 2009, I was struck by how fatalistic and demoralized people were. It hardly seemed to me at the time like a justification to abandon capitalism. In the Great Depression, what GDP must have fell by 30%, I don't think people today can even imagine what the Great Depression must have been like.