Florida Man. Go ahead, look it up. Through the Instagram accounts and numerous tv shows, you will find multitudes of wacky news articles. For example:
“Florida Man Battles Toilet Iguana and Loses”
“Mailboat rescues Florida man who allegedly tried to swim across Detroit River”
“Florida Man Arrested After Trying to Cross The Atlantic Ocean To London In a Homemade Hamster Wheel”
Ok, why? What really makes this news worthy of national attention? Yes, some are violent, but when yet another homicide happens here in Albuquerque, it doesn’t make it anywhere past local news. So what makes the Florida Man special, and why are it seemingly everywhere?
Well, as for just about everything (including the motive for Florida Man’s actions), there isn’t one easy answer. Some say that it’s Florida’s open Public Records Laws, which allow journalists to obtain information, like mugshots, very easily. This leads to an abundance of available information that feeds the fire of Florida Man. It also, along with Florida’s pre-existing stereotypes of oddity, explains why we know Florida Man, not Idaho man or Vermont man. It’s a simple explanation. But nobody just writes stories because the information is there. It’s the audience that makes Florida Man, well, Florida Man.
What audience is there for Florida Man? Pretty simple. The internet. And this is where Florida Man starts to make sense, or at least, the phenomenon (Alas, why a Florida Man was “…Busted Licking Doorbell in Lake Worth” will probably never make sense). Just like other memes, Florida Man lives through the internet. Oddity gets clicks, or else you wouldn’t have clicked on this article. Humor also gets clicks. Florida Man combines the two. And if there is one thing that the internet wants, it’s clicks. This combines with Florida’s Public Records Laws and Florida’s pre-existing stereotype of oddity and you have the perfect recipe.
- Oddity and Novelty combined in one event,
- Public Records Laws that leads to an abundance of stories to write, and,
- The internet, the perfect domain
And what you end up with is a meme, ever growing, ever evolving.
Florida Man is a prime example of how laws interact with internet culture and the ever growing need for clicks, to create memes. So, if you are bored, try looking up Florida Man headlines for your birthday, and smugly know that you can explain why Florida Man is Florida Man.
P.S. If you are looking up dates, try to beat February 25th, “Florida Man Steals $33,000 Worth of Rare Coins, Cashes Them in CoinStar Machine for $29.30.”
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