In the search engine “Florida Man” (Man in Florida) and when typing any date, you will see that news headlines will appear with this phrase. This is part of a viral challenge that emerged in 2013 and continues to this day: Network users search for these words, any date such as their birthday, and then share screenshots with news related to that topic.

This challenge, which has become particularly popular in the United States, has begun to spread around the world in recent years and often returns to its peak of popularity. Shared stories attract attention for several reasons: first, that there are so many titles that start with the same phrase; And second, that they often report unusual events.

Some of the stories that have spread virally over the years have the following headline:

June 11, 2012: A man is arrested in Florida for calling 911 after his Knut was barred from entering a strip club.

June 8, 2017: A man living in Florida who is desperate to go to Hutter calls 911.

April 27, 2018: A man in Florida “practices karate” with a swan in the park.

January 4, 2019: A man in Florida slaps a father in the face with a pizza after learning he helped with the birth of a child.

June 11, 2020 – A man in Florida fights an alligator that attacks his dog.

July 20, 2020 – A man in Florida tries to evade arrest by abandoning police.

What is the reason that there are so many atypical references in this region? Various theories work here. The first says that it is not that more bizarre episodes are necessarily happening in this state, but more information about them is available.

It so happens that the Florida Public Records Laws, also known as The laws of the sunMake it easier for journalists to get reports of police incidents and get readers’ attention.

These laws allow journalists to easily submit a request for a public record And thus gain information about various police incidents that are material to their articles.

Another theory underscores the fact that Florida is a large state with a large population, which makes the incident more likely because of the number. Added to this is the fact that people with humid and hot climates spend more time outside their homes and are therefore more likely to have different events take place in public places, or in a context in which they are easily exposed.

There is also a mental health factor. This is what Al Tompkins, a senior fellow at the Pointer Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida, points out in a 2019 CNN article.

Florida has low funding for mental health. “It would be a mistake to think that Florida has an insane crime rate; “Our rate of violent crime is actually declining,” he said. He added: “But what is very high is the mental health epidemic.”

He also noted that beyond the laughter that these titles can cause, it is important to analyze whether there is a bigger problem. In some cases, incidents can be perpetrated by people who need help resolving an adverse mental health situation, the expert noted in the article.

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