Crime in Florida

Man bites dog, repeatedly

Oct 30th 2013, 15:18 by The Economist

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/10/crime-florida

MOST superheroes fight crime. Florida Man, whose Twitter feed identifies him as “the world’s worst superhero”, commits them. Some are petty (“Florida Man Seen Shoving Snake Down His Pants in Orlando Pet Store”). Some are violent (“Florida Man Aims Semi-Automatic Rifle at Snake, Shoots Urinating Friend”). Some are rude (“Florida Man Caught Showering Naked with a Garden Hose on High School Campus, Blames Mexicans”). Sometimes Florida Man finds love (“Florida Man Comes to the Aid of Drunk Woman Who Fell off Park Bench, Public Sex Ensues”).

Most superheroes are fictional. Florida Man is real, sort of: it is the pseudonym under which one or more people tweet links to stories of strange crimes committed in the Sunshine State and reported by local media.

Florida is not America’s most criminal state, but the offences Floridians commit are often weird. A year-long analysis of Associated Press “strange news” stories found that Florida generated more of them, by far, than any other state (examples: “Man wearing sleeping bag as cape attempts robbery”; “Florida lotto winner seeks to open nude dude ranch”).

The question is: why? Edna Buchanan, who won a Pulitzer prize covering cops for the Miami Herald, blames the weather—she recalls murders sparked by fights over “which member of the family gets the seat closest to the fan”. Dave Barry, a comedian (and fellow Herald alum) is less polite. “We have a lot of stupid people here. There seems to be some kind of rule that you can’t come to our state if you’re normal.”