The Popcorn Stand: Florida Man is really every man

Over the last several years many have tried to psycho-analyze the so-called Florida Man because men and women for that matter in Florida tend to do weird things.

Like throwing an alligator through a Wendy’s drive-through window for example. So over the last few years many have tried to figure out what’s in the water so to speak in Florida that makes the men there so weird.

“The Daily Show” actually did an outstanding and hilarious report on the so-called Florida Man coming to the conclusion the Florida Man is really no different than any other men who do weird things in our society they just happen to be in the news more.

The Miami Herald’s Howard Cohen described Florida Man as thus: “A Florida Man tends to generally have to have firearms, locations help — bodies of water, theme parks, Walmarts, Taco Bells, fast food places like that — alligators for sure, reasons for arrest, injuries,” Cohen said. “Drugs and alcohol could be part of it, and like we said, animals, and those would include reptiles in particular.”

With the danger of getting in trouble with Nevadans, with the exception of the alligators and reptiles part, the Florida Man sounds like a lot of men I’ve come to know about over the years who could be from anywhere — and many of them are in the crime blotter that appears in the Appeal.

But the analysis of Florida Man continues. When it comes to the Florida Man in the news, 13.3 percent of their sample articles involved alcohol, 12.5 percent involved assault without a deadly weapon and 4.9 percent mentioned alligators. Again, with the exception of the alligators, it sounds to me like these men could come from anywhere based on that sample.

Every Florida Man story contains one of the following categories: Firearms (or other weapons), Locations, Objects, Reasons for Arrest, Injuries, Drugs and alcohol, and Animals. Again sounds like everyman who gets in trouble to me.

So what I have I learned about the psycho-analysis of the Florida Man? I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have alligators.

— Charles Whisnand