The Deadly Devolving Legacy of Florida Man
I went to see Bill Burr in Hollywood (Florida) at the Hard Rock Hotel (Florida, once again) in strong anticipation for a great time. Burr is easily one of the better comedians out there today, as he’s excellent with his rants, his unique observations, and his ability to thread the line on political and social controversies to never come off as one-sided or biased. He has this ability to communicate content straight to the point without wasting words. Clearly this one night was for him to practice some of his upcoming material before taking it on the road.
But his audience was…..
………..less than willing to accept certain topics he wanted to touch upon.
Before his set, Burr sent out one of his friends to warm up the audience and secretly see what the mood is. All the political jokes and jokes that border on discussing racism were met with a clear level of discomfort among chunks of the crowd. Then after a short ten-minute set, Bill Burr went out there and spent merely seconds and a few scattered jokes about the Capitol riots when he clearly wanted to dig a little deeper into that wild day. But the predominately-white conservative/white-antipolitical crowd wasn’t responding—-also remember the state with the most Jan. 6th-related arrests happens to be Florida. Later he pivots into making fun of the crowd for hating Tampa (which was hilarious), until he mentioned ISIS and the laughter immediately subdued.
He spent almost two hours delivering the laughs despite the rocky start, but you could tell that a quarter into the set he stuck to the observations about relationships and the feminism movement because that was tracking far better than the anti-MAGAt material which was embarrassing those who are still supporting the previous guy (even if that support has become more subdued as its become clearer the current president is leagues better). You could tell that Bill Burr, master of the microphone, was watering-down some of the material and left out other parts in order to ensure smooth sailing for the remainder of the set.
How he sees Floridians is a reflection of how the rest of the country is viewing Florida in its entirety nowadays: A place that has become even more ridiculous than the jokes that had been following the Sunshine State for a generation now.
It used to be funny, now with dire widespread consequences its stopped being a humorous quip. People are dying and getting sick in wild rates even though there are literally multiple vaccines available for free. The numbers are so bad the DeSantis administration is ignoring pleas to release data publicly, we have even had children in the hospital and dying of Covid because of this battle against masking. The underbelly of all this pandemic carnage is that up until recently, the coronavirus was disproportionately affecting Black Americans and Latin Americans. To make matters more embarrassing, this is a state with 2,000 miles of beachline and rank in the top 10 of all states in terms of nature/park space. Combine this with a climate that is very inviting most of the year to venture outside, Florida could have been an excellent example on how to stay healthy and active battling the pandemic and not have to be claustrophobic about it.
Florida Man has transformed from a newsworthy comedic punchline into an uncomfortable culture that has been adopted with pride by the MAGAts that support the likes of Trump (especially), DeSantis, Gaetz, among other political cancers that has plagued this country. The concept of Florida Man has grown beyond news legend, now its this badge of honor among those who are pretending like the global pandemic is over, pretending like the current governor is doing a great job, and ignoring all the science and facts and dangers in order to live their lives free of mental consequences. A majority of us Floridians are defying the requests and recommendations merely out of spite. There are fistfights at school board meetings just because of mask mandates for the children.
The link between Florida Man and those crying out for freedom and unmasking children is far stronger than what I desire it to be. The myth of Florida Man and the freedom that’s implied to come with the moniker is why Trump always trended well in rural Florida during the term. Then in November 2020, Trump won by such a wide margin among White Americans in Florida that literally every Latino could have voted for Biden and the state STILL would have been handed to the most popular Florida Man in the entire world.
Being a Floridian usually came with only some slight second-hand embarrassment, as we watch the latest idiot make the news for wild mischief or incredible stupidity. But we embraced it nonetheless because we’re willing to battle the tourism, the crazy weather, the heat, the bonkers traffic, the insane people living here, and all the exotic animals we’ve imported over the years to remain here. But now as the pandemic continues to rage in pre-vaccine numbers, the reputation has expanded to not include just a select few Floridians in the diverse state, but to include the majority of us that continues making ignorant and selfish decisions related to the delta variant and our methods of living.
We currently have more cases than California despite Cali having nearly double the overall population. It never had to be this bad, but a mix of toxic politicizing of the virus and the response and bitterness for Trump losing had led us down this dark path towards the virus reaching fever pitch over 18 months since the breakouts first began. The country already has looked like a bad example to the rest of the planet, so to be the worst example of one of the worst-hit country is just an added layer of visual stupidity. The governor refuses to even consider shutting things down or even taking measures to combat these wild upswings in cases, with the exception of promoting certain treatments as opposed to….the vaccines that, as I shall remind you, are available everywhere and for free.
Florida Man used to be primarily funny throwaway news stories. Now Florida Man has infected politics, invaded pandemic response, connected itself to a racist and supremacist administration that has re-opened some dark wounds in Florida’s past, polarized everything we’re trying to do to curb the spread, and has made the state the most dangerous location for the vulnerable in the entire country. Florida Man is no longer a silly badge of honor, it’s a sign of someone whose ignorance and incompetence might get you and your loved ones killed in the middle of a pandemic.
Floridians, we’re better than this. Let’s stop this nonsense. Please.
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P.S. I started writing about this before learning about the death of our healthy but unvaccinated security guard that worked the apartment complex I live in. Nicest guy, even though he was on the conservative side. Nonetheless, he did not deserve to be fed constant hatred and misinformation from his political party which definitely contributed to his death. He deserved better. Rest in Peace, Curtis.