The One-Way Flow of Information
Have you ever gone to some Big-Box retailer, found a product that you 70%-liked, but that 30% had something that was a deal-breaker for you.
You call over the Pimply-Faced-Youth and ask about the feature that’s troubling you. He/she confirms your suspicion. You don’t buy the product.
The PFY will, in all likelihood, never pass this information on to the manufacturer of the product, the manufacturer will probably never make the change you suggested, or address the concern you had, and you will never buy the product (or worse, you’ll end up buying a product that doesn’t suit your needs).
Bah! It’s a crummy system. A lot of these larger “manufacturers” (most of them are merely holding or trading companies) have made it harder and harder to pass feedback to them, unless you’ve bought their product. I think it would be valuable for them to know why I (or you or anyone) positively chose to NOT buy their product.
The market is not free. It is totalitarian. There is the illusion that you can vote with your wallet, but the vast majority don’t. There is a one way flow of “information” from “the leader” to you. When you are troubled by the leader, and can’t, as an idividual, petition the leader for redress of grievances, it’s time to beat feet.
I think the larger problem is that money does not equate to communication. If I hand you a $5 bill, with no provocation, no expression on my face, and with neutral body language, I imagine you’d be pretty confused. Speech is speech. Money is money. Money can only buy you access to communication channels. It is not communication. Voting with your wallet is a tiny part of the solution.
If I choose not to buy an HP laptop at BestBuy, for example, because it does not come with Debian Linux pre-installed instead of Microsoft Windows. Does HP know? Does HP care? Does HP know that I’ve bought 5 computers in the last year for my own personal use and they all either came with no operating system installed or with Linux pre-installed, and that’s the way I like it? Do they know that if they’re going to sell me another computer it’s not going to have MS Windows on it? Not unless they read my blog. I’m fairly sure they dont.