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Headlines with the phrase “Florida man” are now almost the stuff of legends. When you see one of those, you know there’s going to be some weirdness involved. In reality, people may do strange and ridiculous things in other states, too. It’s just that Florida has open government laws that allow members of the press to access information about these kinds of things quickly and easily.

They’re also called the Sunshine Laws: journalists can easily report on wild crime stories because authorities make info like mugshots, arrest logs, and police blotters public almost immediately. Unlike in other states, where such info is protected and in some cases never made public. Basically, journalists just have to go through the logs for the most interesting, crazy, and ridiculous crimes of the day or week.

Some people also blame the “Florida man” phenomenon on the hot weather and a hugely diverse population. It’s sunny, humid, and hot in Florida year-round, so people are outside, wandering about most of the year. As Florida-based journalist Craig Pittman told CNN, “Eventually, [people are] going to end up chasing each other around with machetes and arguing (about) whose dog pooped on whose lawn.”

As a state, Florida is also huge. Although it’s only the 22nd largest state in the U.S., more than 21 million people live there. What’s more, approximately 126 million people visit it every year. In 2024, WalletHub named Florida the third most diverse state in the U.S., behind California and Texas. And not just in terms of ethnic and racial diversity, but also socioeconomic, cultural, religious, and political diversity.

Pittman traces back the origins of the “Florida man” phenomenon to the 2000 election. “Until then we didn’t have that kind of reputation, then the three weeks we spent trying to figure out who the president was going to be based on people squinting at little hanging chads in Palm Beach county convinced people that maybe the folks in Florida are not as bright as we thought,” he told the Guardian in 2019.

But there is a darker side to the “Florida man” phenomenon. Sure, it’s fun to have a laugh at the ridiculous things inebriated folks do and get in trouble for sometimes, but behind some of these stories there are really tragic backstories.

“Often in Florida tragedy wears the mask of comedy,” Pittman added. “You’re not just reading the police log, you’re seeing the result of Florida consistently being ranked 49th in spending on mental health.” Some stories involve unhoused people, others feature family or marital violence, and those topics are usually not funny or entertaining at all.

South Florida is a much richer region, with its luxury estates, billionaire residents, and expensive resorts. North Florida, in comparison, looks very different: substance, alcohol, and mental health issues often contribute to people acting out and ending up in viral news headlines. Nevertheless, about 12% of Florida’s population, just a little below 3 million people, lives below the federal poverty line.

So, while the “Florida man” meme might be entertaining, it’s important to remember that there are real people behind the stereotype. Like much of 2000s humor, the “Florida man” meme is about punching down. As Bob Norman wrote for the Columbia Journalism Review in 2019, “The stories tend to stand as exemplars of the mythical hyper-weirdness of the Sunshine State, but more often simply document the travails of the [substance]-addicted, mentally ill, and homeless.”