The Button

to “push the button” is a phrase whose meaning may have a definite generational tint. Consider the copresence of this phrase for those raised under the threat of nuclear annihilation that was part and parcel of the “cold war” (thermonuclear war, mutual assured destruction, etc) and those who tend to associate the phrase “pushing the button” first and foremost with the bunker in the TV series Lost, or even the 2009 horror film The Box.