If you never went through that period in your life when MTV was still the popular time suck and not 9gag, here’s a quick recap of what that show was all about:
Boiling Points was a prank reality TV show way back in the early 2000s where random people (including Stefani Germanotta before she became Lady Gaga) were subjected to extremely annoying situations.
The goal was to basically exhibit ginormous amounts of self-restraint and not give in and lose your cool.
If you could stand being in that situation for 2-20 minutes (the boiling point), you’d get $100. If you couldn’t keep your cool, well, sucks for you. No $100.
Fast forward to 2012 and we apparently have our own version of it. In fact, we might just have 3 of the most famous Filipino contestants of the year. Losing $100 cannot be compared to having viral YouTube videos of themselves in attack mode.
Case #1: Guy Loses Cool Over Traffic Rules, Goes Crazy on Enforcer
Case #2: Celebrity Couple Loses Cool Over Luggage Issues and Paparazzi
The main difference between actual Boiling Points contestants and these more recent participants is that the latter resorted to the hell-naw-oh-no-you-diint of the interwebs: violence. And boy did they feel its wrath.
Social media is strange. You can suddenly become a semi-famous fashion blogger or suddenly have your personal number and home address passed around so people can send you hate messages.
If you’re one of those rare people who never gets mad, good for you. For the rest of us, it’s always good to know that one outrageously disrespectful act can get you to lose your job, embarrass your family and friends and be the internet’s most-hated person… until they find a replacement.
The next time you encounter someone really really annoying (in public at least), imagine yourself on camera being watched by a couple hundred people.
Because you just might be.
That thought should give you enough willpower to… check yoself before you wreck yoself.