When market defectors spread false claims, more and more of us increase our level of distrust, and this distrust then gets diffused into everything we hear. We cast obvious truths into doubt, and we suspect everything. The cable company that betrayed my trust stung itself, for sure, but it also hurt its industry by causing consumers like me to mistrust telecommunications companies in general. And that mistrust, like a pebble dropped into a still pond, ripples throughout the telecommunications industry; creating tiny waves that end up affecting business and society as a whole.
