It’s always bothered me that anyone would refer to other people as “consumers,” as though we’re simply herd animals – stupidly waiting to be fed, existing for no other purpose.

It seems a silly thing to get all tense about doesn’t it? After all, we do seem to “consume” a lot. But is that really sufficient to define people – even in the marketplace? Considering all the talk in social media circles about how the marketing game is changing, I figure the language ought to change, too.

So why do we still use this term?
It seems that, as we use it in this economic context, it’s a remnant of that “old media” paradigm, where the message is blasted in our direction with very little regard for the fact that we are people with minds, not simply all-consuming automatons. But it’s all about reach and numbers, right? And why shouldn’t it be?

Indeed, this paradigm is centered upon the very fact of consumerism. “Hey, if they weren’t buying, we wouldn’t be selling!” they say. Yet the overlooked consequence of this acceptance is that we are dehumanized; we are reduced to a vast, collective maw, open wide to the advertisers who happily shovel message after message over and through us until we’re quite numb and blindly accept the deluge into our waiting gullets (and out through the checkbook).

It has changed us. We’ve allowed ourselves to be turned into what overzealous marketers needed us to be. We buy things we don’t need; we live beyond our means. We work ourselves stupid for more money to buy more things – not because we need them, but because it’s what we’ve trained ourselves to do. We’ve convinced ourselves that more is better; that we’re somehow entitled to it, and MUST strive for it.

Wow. We really are consumers, aren’t we? We must think so, and that’s why we still use the word.

And *that* is tragic.

So what?
A video was recently brought to my attention (h/t Josh Klein) in which James H Kunstler, in the closing 45 seconds, argues against the word “consumer”. The entire video is well worth the watch, but here’s the bit I’m referring to:

Please stop referring to yourselves as “consumers,” OK. “Consumers” are different than citizens. “Consumers” do not have obligations, responsibilities and duties to their fellow human beings. And as long as you are using that word “consumer” in the public discussion you will be degrading the quality of the discussion we are having, and we’re gonna continue being clueless going into this very difficult future that we face.

Kunstler’s argument speaks well from the political realm, but he doesn’t go far enough – perhaps for lack of time. In fact, “consumers” as people do not exist in any realm but that of appetite, or taste. Consumers have no moral obligations to their fellows. They have no practical concerns. They do not love. They do not appreciate beauty, they do not create. They have no beliefs, nor do they have legal concerns. In short, consumers do not think; they have no minds.

Yet persons do. We participate in all the realms listed above, and our values in each area affect the way we participate in the marketplace. We are people. We do not consume – we reason, we decide, we act.

I would eliminate the word “consumer” from my vocabulary altogether, except that you continue to use it. Why?

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[photo credit: nick saltmarsh]

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My blog and myself know that what counts online is not the words we spew, the noise of our rants, nor the drama we make. We know it is the hits that count. We will hit…

My blog is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its widgets, its plugins, its editor, and its feed. I will ever guard it against the ravages of spam and malware. I will keep my blog clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will…

Before Google I swear this creed. My blog and myself are the defenders of my domain. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until there is no enemy, but PEACE.

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Apparently some people think Twitter is dying. Oh it’s mainstream now, there’s too many people on it, Twitter jumped the shark, everyone is spamming, they’re all using it wrong, blah blah blah.

Seriously? For YEARS I’ve been hearing about Twitter, and how it’s the coolest thing and everyone should join. Since I finally signed up last year all I’ve heard is what a great marketing/research/communication/networking/business/social tool it is. It’s all about people. It’s all about relationships. Conversation.

Well now HERE THEY ARE. People everywhere, just like we all dreamed. “Reach” is greater than it’s ever been. Your potential audience is larger than ever; more people to talk with, more opinions, more feedback, more conversation.

So what’s the problem?

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Why visual rhetoric? Because just as every word we utter is a testament to how we see the world and what we value in it, the things that we create as designers of visual media reflect the undercurrents of our overt world-view; they are the rhetorical prose of the visible.

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