Linda Barry

Southern Perspective

He's weird. He's wacky. He's wild. He's … duh, duh, duh duh … Florida Man! Like the Florida Skunk Ape, he gets around our favorite state. First, he's in Jacksonville chasing people in a convenience store with an alligator. Then, he's in St. Petersburg attacking his neighbor with a weed whacker. If you're especially lucky, you might catch a rare glimpse of him licking doorbells in Lake Worth.

He's among the lamest of celebrities, but he doesn't get paid nearly what they get paid to act up. He does it for free. He also doesn't do it on purpose. Florida Man just lives his life.

The myth and mythos of Florida Man went viral in social media recently, especially Twitter and Facebook. Now, I've never sent a twit in my life (oh, it's a tweet), but I do have a Facebook page. If you haven't seen it, why not? I digress. My point is that I saw the most original game on there right now, the Florida Man challenge.

It's easy. Just run a Google search of "Florida Man," followed by the month and day of your birthday. My search said, "Florida Man, July 30." I got plenty of hits on the alligator in the convenience store. There was even a video included for my viewing pleasure. How thoughtful of someone, probably the Florida Woman taking the video.

So, what it is with Florida Man? Don't other states have their weirdos, too? Isn't there a Utah Man or Illinois Man stalking unsuspecting doorbells? It made me wonder, so I started checking.

There's a theory about the coverage, which I've seen referenced a few times in various news outlets. It hypothesizes it's not that Florida has any more weirdos than any other state. We just hear about them here.

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It's all due to Florida's Sunshine Law, which was passed in 1991. It guarantees free public access to Florida's government documents and proceedings, minus some exemptions. Among the allowed documents are police arrest records. It's interesting and even ironic that the very vehicle which allows these stories to be easily available created a character who is now the butt of late-night jokes.

So, listen up, all my fellow Floridians! Don't cringe when you see the next Florida Man headline. Stand proud, because you live in a state where you can read about your embarrassing neighbors with the greatest of ease. Not all Americans can brag about it. And while they might never admit it, they want to read it, too.

Southern gal Linda Barry is a freelance columnist for the News Journal.