Posted on 07/15/2023 12:06:11 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Chances are, if you watch or read the news, you’ve probably heard the term “Florida Man” before.
In fact, it became such a famous headline that it even became a meme. But where did this stereotype of Florida man being the wild, eccentric, larger-than-life image come from?
“So that’s what Florida man evokes, its a sort of lawlessness, a sort of eccentricity, and its something that is also pegged to what makes Florida unique as a state,” said Dr. Landon Frim, a Philosophy Professor from Florida Gulf Coast University.
As far as you can read into Google, you’ll find an almost endless supply of head-scratching headlines with “Florida Man” in the title, and typically, there’s a common theme.
“One of their most recent stories that I saw was ‘Florida man accused of assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a live alligator through a Wendy’s drive-thru window,'” Frim said.
So where does the cultural phenomenon come from, and what is a “Florida Man”? If you ask the average person, the responses can vary.
“I’d say it’s a very redneck type of guy,” said one respondent.
“Somebody that is cool, hangs out on the beach, old surfer dude…” said another.
“Florida man is something that even the greatest writers in Hollywood couldn’t come up with.”
But generally, it can be summed up with one thing: Nationwide notoriety.
“So Florida man is a crazy person from Florida that does outlandish things, and we hear about it across the country, read about it in the paper,” said another respondent.
Whether it involves alligators, beaches, nudity, guns, or something else, it typically reflects the cultural diversity of the state, having over its history become a melting pot for different kinds of people.
That diversity and tension, often in the form of crime, is read about around the world thanks to “sunshine laws,” and in the early 2010s, when online print media became more widespread, a meme was born.
“There’s a lot more access that the public has to things the courts decide, and that might be relevant to internal police documents, and that’s where a lot of this material comes from since 2013 when the Twitter account started,” Dr. Frim said.
Even though most of what you find online with a Florida man headline is typically associated with lawlessness or criminal behavior, many still consider being a “Florida man” as a badge of honor.
“I’d say it’s a great thing. It’s a badge of honor; instead of being so serious, you need to have some fun,” said one beachgoer when asked.
And while for some these headlines might be an embarrassment, to others, it’s just a part of what makes this sunny, wild state so eccentric.
“Florida man was always originally an amalgam, always born of the fact that there are these contradictory elements that are always in tension, but that tension persists, and that’s what causes these eccentric stories to be generated again and again.”
Try living near suitcase city in Tampa.
That place is crazy!
Because california crazy become normalized by information warfare. That is why naked men can dance in front of children in a parade down main street and no one blinks an eye.
People are horrible.
Suspected mobile meth lab forces Florida Welcome Center on I-95 to shut down, evacuate
The account quickly gained popularity, and soon other people began creating their own "Florida Man" Twitter accounts. The meme also spread to other social media platforms, and soon people were sharing "Florida Man" stories all over the internet.
We think similiarly. I was going to say because Florida Man behavior in California was so common it stopped becoming newsworthy.
Looking back in history Floridians with gators/crocs is the earliest I can find of specific Florida crazy.
Florida has its share of drunks who act drunk=crazy.
Florida has its share of sex-perverts=crazy.
But no more so than NJ, LA, NV an a few other states.
Florida stands out with crazy animal stories with crocs/gators at the top.
I’ve had a feeling that California lost the media title for crazy when it became more identified with the Democrat party while the media transferred it to Florida as it became more identified as Republican.
What a dumb article. (And of course some dumb-ass professor has nothing of interest to say, and the rest of it is about rednecks.)
“FL Man” is because of the law in FL which provides for quick release of police records but without names of suspects. The internet pickup up on it and turned it into a “meme.”
Serge Storms is the ultimate Florida Man.
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