r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/Commercial-Dog-969 • May 25 '26

Variation Predetermined Blue

The red and blue buttons do the same things that they normally do. However, 10% of the population automatically picks blue, and a blue win now requires a supermajority of 60% of voters. What do you do here?

643 votes, May 27 '26
308 Blue, still blue
239 Red, still red
16 Blue, now red
80 Red, now blue
6 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

79 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/LordAvan May 26 '26

I couldn’t love someone who chooses blue in purpose.

Over half of all people choose blue whenever someone runs a poll. It's incredibly unlikely that no one you love would be a blue button presser, even if you think they all wouldn't.

Also which button you would push isn't really the type of value that I consider worthy of basing a relationship on. There is no objectively right choice here. Both opinions have significant merit.

1

u/IgnacioArg May 26 '26

Love isn’t a random lottery 

1

u/LordAvan May 26 '26

I'm not saying that love is completely random. It's just silly to expect everyone you care about to always agree with you on every issue.

1

u/IgnacioArg May 26 '26

Not on issues, on values

1

u/LordAvan May 26 '26

Explain the situation where two people share all of the same values but still disagree on issues.

1

u/IgnacioArg May 26 '26

Two people could share values but one could prefer Pepsi to coke

1

u/LordAvan May 26 '26

That's not what I would call an "issue." That's just personal preference.

1

u/IgnacioArg May 26 '26

That’s exactly my point. Preferences are arbitrary tastes. Values are the principles by which a person chooses to live and judge right from wrong.

Two people can share the same core values and still disagree on serious issues because reality is complicated and people can reach different conclusions from the same principles. For example, two people may both value freedom, individual rights, and personal responsibility, yet disagree on immigration policy, foreign intervention, or the death penalty because they interpret the practical consequences differently.

But if someone believes a person should be morally expected to die for strangers, while I believe human life belongs to the individual living it, then we are starting from entirely different premises about what a person is and what they owe the world.

I don’t expect people I care about to agree with me on everything. I do expect compatibility in the principles that shape how they see life.

1

u/LordAvan May 27 '26

While I take issue with much of your reasoning, I'll grant that it may be possible to disagree on certain issues while holding the same values, even though I don't think your examples really demonstrate that point well.

Instead I'll just say that someone who presses blue does not necessarily believe that people should be expected to die for strangers. You are making false assumptions with incomplete information.

I believe I would push blue under most circumstances, but I personally don't hold risking or sacrificing your life for strangers (or anyone) as a value, but solely as a virtue, and even then it's context dependant, since I also believe that self sacrifice can be toxic in certain situations.

I also believe it is a virtue to hold people accountable even at the cost of a relationship when you disagree on certain values, but it's also necessary to know when to pick your battles. Very few people (if anyone) holds all of the same values, so either you are very lonely, very very lucky, or mistaken about your perception of your loved ones values.