@MagickAlicecon I don't think they're capable of causing that much chaos though. Not compared to what the sheer volume of third worlders are already doing. The ones that are competent and organized enough to cause significant chaos aren't being "placated by the internet."
@gregjarch I would say most people have very little say in anything at all. How much of behaviour is influenced by genetics and social conditioning? The wider point is that it's almost always gratuitously cruel to abuse anyone for anything unless it's corrective or instructional.
@RoyalEndeavour Well, he is a public servant after all. And modern militaries have managers, not leaders. The last thing they want is some aristocrat of the soul with a cult of personality being in charge of the armed forces.
@viggo9000@SSporklion Ball throwing is applied physics at best. I'm ok at math but I hate arithmetics (not uncommon). Real math is literally about the "big-picture". E.g. there are exactly 17 ways in which 2D patterns can repeat. This only makes sense if you understand the nature of 2D symmetry.
Your analogy to real-world policy breaks down because the game provides a safety net: if enough people press blue, they will be saved from the consequences of their actions and will in fact save lives. Whether or not those lives are worth the risk of saving is a separate question.
Blue-button mentality is a sign of civilization, we shouldn't be too harsh on it. Placing the ingroup above the individual is good. Placing the universal (outgroup) above the ingroup is bad.
The "competitive advantage" of blue in a healthy society is that it is far easier to convince half the people to press blue than it is to convice literally everyone to press red, thus preventing all casualties.