none taken.

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afat
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest to follow that star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march
Into hell for a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

I think not.

Knowledgeable decisions about consuming do not 'define you as a consumer'. You are a consumer, if you like it or not. Knowledgeable choices about what you WISH to consume, make you a wise, conscious person.

Anyway, it's not about making noise. It's about personal decisions. That's why I fail to understand your position: decising to encourage an industry by purchasing goods from them, or discourage another by boycotting it, is a DEED. Talking to politicians, or whatever the other option you suggested was ,is TALKING. Consumer decisions involve the greatest amount of doing with the least amount of talking.

You might want to take a look at this book. You may not agree with all its principles, but it most certainly encourages wise decisions on how one spends their money, with the least amount of consumerism possible, and combines it with the other activism methods you suggested:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/086571...

(http://silencio.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/007894.html)

YMMV.

not in this case... was never in hitech and was never unemployed. Just plain social ideology in my case, I'm afraid. :)