A dirty word

Recently, I've been thinking about how the word 'consumer' has such a bad feel to it- it fits perfectly with our society, with exploitation, with mindlessness, with a poor outlook for the future, and it lacks a sense of reciprocity. Consumer has come to be a dirty word for me. Perhaps this is just semantics at work, but I was happy to find an alternative, at least so far as food is concerned, and the principals laid out here could apply to many other fields. . .

"We consider ourselves co-producers, not consumers, because by being informed about how our food is produced and actively supporting those who produce it, we become a part of and a partner in the production process."
-Slow Food USA