The even slightly intelligent person sees all this and is left virtually hopeless in its wake. What can be done to alter the opinion of a person that believes the earth is only 10,000 years old( 60% of all Americans according to Psychology Today)? This leads to what the famous sociologist Emile Durkheim calls social anomie: suicides done in times of vast social change because those individuals aren’t able to affect any meaningful change in their lives and thus decide not to go on (strong correlation to the prescription drug epidemic as well).