Anomie, in its original definition, falls short of what I’m trying to convey. So, for the purpose of clearly explaining my inquiry into the present climate of the materialists developed society, I will take a page from Kurt Vonnegut and make up a word.

I’ll call it “collipso.”

It has no etymological foundation; it was what I first wrote when thinking about how to explain this situation. Collipso refers to “life living someone who is alive,” which, when further analyzed, means the specific circumstances of their social context begin to shape every aspect of their life.

So, in a collipso situation, can an individual live according to his or her free will? I’m sure there are many answers to this question, and to every answer I would be forced to respond reasonably: perhaps … but this is my column and my question so I’ll do my best to answer it.

In a word: no.

It seems like it would take a certain amount of transcendence to overcome a social atmosphere. For example, there are certain lifestyles within a social milieu that would allow for a certain amount of transcendence, such as a monk, priest, nun or that kid from “Into the Wild.”

In my mind these are all forms of escapism, these are all people running away from collipso, but not actually transcending it. So, how can anyone truly escape collipso?

I don’t believe any individual can. I think it probably would take a mass movement of individuals who come together to address collipso.

How to fix collipso?

It has been an issue many people have addressed, but no one ever fixes or gives a clear-cut answer. Sometimes the individual plagued by the realization of collipso experiences a deep subjective experience and pretends they’ve transcended their state.

Yet, even if they ignore collipso, their actions — in ignorance to the social state — could come with serious consequences.

As college students, we test the social “waters,” we create new social “scenes.” In the past, people our age have created social movements. In all of these situations, people are coming together in small part to address collipso. We live paradoxically, ignoring its presence while sensing it’s there.

At some point, for the sake of a sane society, we need to break this duality.

In the past, certain subcultures have addressed similar ideas. The beatniks of the 1950s — specifically Jack Kerouac — traveled the country attempting to live spontaneously and achieve actual freedom in the hope their lifestyle would allow them an escape from their generational collipso.

The hippie movement of the 1960s occurred next. A good example can be found in Tom Wolfe’s novel “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.” The novel helps define a subculture pursuing a goal similar to the beatniks, that being, escape from collipso.

Both of these examples of subcultures wouldn’t be for everyone; drugs, pseudo homelessness and other aspects of these subcultures were not and will not completely be embraced by our society.

Moving forward, our generation might come up with a way to confront this issue, hopefully, in a more pragmatic way. In the past, the subcultures inevitably have failed, in part because they are “subcultures” and not the main “prevailing” culture.

It will take baby steps to push the popular culture in a direction that begins to address collipso.
That’s my answer. I’d like to know yours (readers). I’m sure people can acknowledge collipso. I think that acknowledgement is all we need to move forward.

Eoin Nordman is a State News guest columnist and a political science freshman. Reach him at nordmane@msu.edu.