Button, Button. Who's Got the Button?

[Razor]

There was a new movie announced at Comic-Con, named The Box. It's based off of one of my favorite short stories, Button, Button by Richard Matheson.

The plot is really simple, as one would expect from a short story. A mysterious box is found on the subject's porch. The box holds a button. It's big and red, just to add the "Oh my gawd, evil button" aura. A horribly disfigured man knocks on the door, and offers a proposition. He will give a sum of money (in the short story 200,000 dollars, in the movie 1,000,000 dollars) if you press the button. You have 24 hours. Sounds easy, huh? Wrong.

The button has one purpose, and one purpose only. When it is pressed one person you do not know will die. In the short story, the wife presses the button. Later her husband is killed, to the wife's shock. The stranger explains "You never really knew your husband."

In the Twilight Zone episode, the wife presses the button to the husband's outrage. The stranger comes back and takes the button, and explains to the wife that "The button will be reprogrammed and given to a new couple with the same terms and conditions. Don't worry, it will be someone you don't know."

For me, I couldn't. It seems like the old story The Monkey's Paw, where the man gets 3 wishes from a old monkey's paw. Of course, they come back to bite him in the ass. Something about his son coming back as a zombie or some shit. Either way, whenever you get a proposition like this it always, invariably, comes back to cock-slap you in the face. That, and the old "A million dollars isn't worth a human life" spiel.

So. The question put forth by this thread is a simple one. Would you press the button? Would you trade a person's life for a million dollars? Stake your claim.

 

[Dave]

I never really thought myself to be someone who could be convinced to do something just by the fear of guilt alone. However, murder is another case altogether.

Of course, in this scenario, I assume that there is no way of tracing it back to you because the person just dies right then and there, no matter where they are. If this is indeed the case and I did not know the person, I think it would be a harder choice for me to make than it is currently. Right now, there is no amount of money that could get me to kill someone. Money isn't everything and I think that the guilt would be too much if I actually murdered someone who I actually knew or loved. I think it is very interesting to see what I would do if it could not be traced back to me and I did not know the person.

If it was an African in Zimbabwe, with no family, no friends and nothing left in their life then I probably would do it for a million pounds. Who wouldn't? Or is that just the sound of me being very callous that I can hear? Doing it to someone who has nothing to live for is completely different than doing it to someone you actually care for.

As it is, I probably would not do it.

 

[The Doctor]

I'd be afraid of what the definition of "knowing" is. Look at the short story. The woman's husband was killed because of a bad definition.

I would be too worried that, if I pressed the button, one of my internet friends (who I care for very deeply though I have never met them and therefore do not "know" them) would be killed. Plus, there is still the guilt.

I don't think I would be able to. I'm not always the bravest of men, there's too much risk involved, and the guilt would be horrible.

On another topic, I hated The Monkey's Paw. Maybe it's because I've been forced to read it in a school setting too many times.

 

[Tenta]

It would appear, Razor, that you seem to be asking the question of whether or not someone can take a life, for one million dollars. Unfortunately, Razor, I fear that you’re falling for the same trap that caused so many issues with your terrific, yet somewhat flawed, reasoning as to whether or not we have a responsibility to feed the poor. And actually, you pointed out said flaw in that very same thread.

Of course, you could be arguing against my belief that everyone should not want other people to starve. I'll readily admit that's way too naive.

Personally, I see that there is no reason to kill anyone, especially for what I would see as an excessive amount of money. As I’ve stated in an earlier thread, the social norm implied upon me is that killing is wrong, and even if I wish I could kill all the stupid people in the world (kidding, folks), I still have to adhere to that social rule, or risk bringing chaos onto my community.

Having said that, asking such a question may just cause you to question your belief as to whether man is completely good or not, which is another topic for another time. However, it all falls upon man’s place, and his agreement with certain implied social norms. You find yourself constrained by said social norms, and as you’ve said, you can’t see yourself pushing that button. On the other hand, Razor, those that find themselves coming from a different culture, that perhaps doesn’t respect the human life as much, would have no problem hitting that button. It’s why there’s murder right now in our society, Razor; it’s all based on how you’re raised, and if you expect to believe in certain social norms by how you’re raised.

I would not push that button, Razor. However, there might be some in this society that wouldn’t hesitate, at all.

 

[Loveless]

I'm something of a sociopath, I can switch my morality on and off when it suits me, I really don't do guilt, so would I press it? Damn right I would.
If you're asking whether I could physically take someone's life, then yeah I could and for a lot less than a million. All I need to do is justify it to myself. Most of our grandparents will likely have killed someone during WWII and I totally believe that it' a lot easier than people think when you take away the consequence and give them a reason.

 

[HereComesThePain101]

Im one of those people that thinks alot before i do something. my friends hate that about me because i always think of the consequences before i do something. but still i see no consequences in this unless it is someone i know. Like Stephen King said

Guilt like murdered bones do not rest easily but the knowledge of them can be lived with.

with a million dollars i could live with it. i have always been the type of person that would think of his family first whether then think of someone else. I would press it collect my money and help my brother and my parents with all our financial problems then help myself with anything i could buy. however this is all assuming i don't know the person but i think i would press the button the chances are in my favor that it wouldn't be a family member and i could deal with it if it was someone i didn't know.

 

[HBK-aholic]

I'd have to say no to this. Just because you don't know them, somebody could. It could be someone's mum, or child, it could be someone's husband or friend. I wouldn't be able to live with knowing I'd killed an innocent person, especially one who most likely had ties to other people. That being said, if I could choose the person, there a couple of people I wouldn't mind getting a million pounds for killing.