Just this Spring of 2019, the “Florida Man Challenge” went viral across social media platforms, prompting millions of users to Google the keywords “Florida Man” followed by their birthday. Just last month, you would get a crime news headline about something ridiculous a Florida Man was arrested for.
Now, of course, the top search results are riddled with posts about the Florida Man Challenge and the top however many Florida Man headlines. Florida Man quickly turned into a folk anti-hero, with his antics of paying wizards for invisibility spells, being naked under various unusual circumstances, and attacking people with everything from tractors to tortilla chips.
But why Florida Man? Why not Kentucky Man, Minnesota Man, or Utah Man? Why does this particular search only work for Florida and work so well every time?
Florida is a place people run away to. Florida is filled with transplants, coming here to start fresh at different milestones of life. We are the locals of a state-wide tourist trap. We are an adventurous and quirky lot with a culture of crazy that we embrace, but that’s not the only reason Florida Man makes the headlines every day.
Although the meme itself originated in 2013, and the challenge incubated for six years before going viral, the origins of the Florida Man saga began long ago, in 1909 when Florida’s state legislature passed Chapter 119, also known as the “Public Records Law.” This law made all records created or received in the course of official conduct by any public entity in Florida officially a matter of public record. In 1967, the Public Records Law evolved into the Government in Sunshine Act, which opened all records and meetings of government agencies to public observation and access with just ten exceptions. Other states don’t have this kind of transparency.
Through this law, Florida has put into statute vehicles of extreme government transparency. The process by which crime reporters and investigators obtain documents from government and law enforcement is so streamlined that on any day of the year any Florida crime reporter would have a slew of juicy headlines to choose from. This also eases the process of carrying out an investigation in the state of Florida, as most information is already a matter of public record.
Crime reporters in the state of Florida never have to look far beyond their local precinct for a good headline, and us investigators have an edge when it comes to accessing government and law enforcement records. That’s a good thing with so many Florida Men at large!
