Episode 75: The Trouble with 'Florida Man' by Citations Needed Podcast published on 2019-05-01T14:24:13Z “Naked Florida man revealed on video sneaking into restaurant and munching on ramen.” “Florida man broke into jewelry store, cut himself on glass and bled all over everything, police say.” “Florida man arrested at Olive Garden after eating spaghetti with his hands.” We’ve seen this supposedly hilarious stories for years on our social media feeds and wacky listicle. Florida-themed crime stories, we are told, are uniquely bizarre and worthy of derision. But what are we really mocking when we mock “Florida Man”? On this total buzzkill episode, we dissect the anti-poor, mental health-shaming subtext that animates the Florida Man meme and how it too often serves as little more than a socially acceptable way to mock the marginalized and indigent. We are joined by Florida organizer Michelle Bruder. Comment by Colleen Winters Do you have a transcript of this episode? 2022-04-25T05:05:49Z Comment by No Telefrag Plz I love how every time I learn about laws like this America reveals itself more and more as some twisted dystopia 2019-08-19T19:53:19Z Comment by Four-Three-Five Recorder It's not really the Koch Brothers anymore - David Koch quit last year due to "illness." The irony of REASON magazine speaking highly of a Florida that treats the mentally ill solely with jail is that the magazine was founded by a schizophrenic college student and ex-US Navy sailor, Lanny Friedlander, who was an Ayn Rand fan. He started in 1968, printing it by mimeograph machine in Boston. Charlie Koch's people bought it out in 1970 and moved the publication to California. 2019-05-19T08:12:59Z Comment by Four-Three-Five Recorder An endless shit carrossel of drinking-while-homeless, arrest, release, busted again, out again. Only a sociopath could see this a workable system. 2019-05-19T08:03:24Z Comment by buried this epsidoe would he alot nicer if you didn't constantly undermine the discussion by reminding the viewer that you are not shaming them. You need to speak more to how pleasure and comedy helps to dissimulate us from thede violent conditions without 2019-05-15T20:29:51Z Comment by five ipads preach kween but also anyone have a spare rss link for an improvrished computer scare friend? ;) 2019-05-04T03:26:16Z Comment by Ruzihm The plugin is available here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/florida-man-replacer-by-c/jiaioinifmjihealclmeahbdpagleidd?hl=en 2019-05-03T21:51:17Z Comment by Craig Pittman Also, Florida's Government in the Sunshine Law was passed in 1967, not 1995. 2019-05-02T16:51:14Z Comment by Craig Pittman You're right about the mental health funding but wrong about the Sunshine Law being a deciding factor. Other states have copied our Sunshine Law but they don't produce nearly the same amount of weirdness that Florida does. Also, plenty of weird Florida stories involve something other than an arrest -- for instance, mermaids being state park employees, Miami courthouse janitors forming a "Voodoo Squad" to clean up all the animal sacrifices left on the courthouse steps, nudists feuding with the postal service over their packages, alligators jumping into the air to catch a golf ball during a golf tournament and so on. The "Florida is weird" meme dates back to the 2000 election recount -- the original Florida woman was Katherine Harris. If you'd like to know more, check out the book "Oh, Florida! How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country." 2019-05-02T16:43:30Z Comment by apesofmath and rich out of state retirees have an iron grip on florida government and generally do not care about floridians under 50 or anyone who's poor 2019-05-01T17:03:36Z Comment by apesofmath this was in 2011. tampa food not bombs people were arrested in 2017 2019-05-01T17:00:34Z
