but one of the things that has started to come out has been this supposedly fundamental divide between “consumers” and “customers”. The idea – I think it’s from Cluetrain, but I’ll check later – is that being a customer is far superior than being a consumer and that the distinction is fundamental. Maybe, but remember that a “citizen” has a far richer bundle of rights and responsibilities than either. If people are really trying to suggest that we fight for rights as customers, I’d suggest that the battle has already been lost – the real fight should be for rights as citizens. Being a customer implies that your rights flow from a transaction. Weak weak weak. Being a citizen implies that your rights flow from having been born (or naturalized). That’s where the stakes are really high, not in the world of consumerism OR customerism.
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