Florida seems to be in the national news All. The. Time. It is the state that is mentioned in the political realm all the time and it is either praised or criticized all the time. People either love it or hate it. According to journalist Leila Macor, Americans have, especially after the uptick in Covid cases, a love-hate relationship with it. 

So, with continuous media coverage, a divided country with polar opposites on it, and an allegedly laissez-faire approach to the pandemic, I thought it might be worth looking at Florida and try to answer three basic questions: Why do people love/hate Florida, why does the media have such a fixation on it, and what can we do going forward when we talk about it. 

To start, here is a ludicrously brief history, Florida was 'discovered' by Europeans in 1513. The Spanish held a majority of power there until 1821. President James Monroe took possession of Florida in 1822 and under President Andrew Jackson, Native Americans were forcibly removed on the Trail of Tears. Florida became a state in 1845 and was a slave state before and during the Civil War. Their economy flourished from agricultural products for decades and still to this day remains a substantial portion of their economy. The latter decades brought the rise of tourism and vacation seekers in the millions, especially after the opening of the famed amusement park Disney World in 1971. But Florida has not been without its tragedies. Hurricanes, mass shootings, and Covid have battered Florida over and over again. Plus, in 2000 there was the infamous recount in the presidential election where the voting machines in Florida had several 'issues' to put it charitably. 

Florida has had many, many ups and downs and I think that the ups and downs are the cause for the love and hate respectively people have about Florida. And yes, I know what people will say: "What about other states and their mistakes?" The reason for all the focus on Florida specifically is most likely, because of not just its immense population, but of the economic and political importance Florida offers to the country and to even the rest of the world. 

Think about it. Florida is the 2nd most visited state in the country, 2nd most populated state, and it is having in recent years become business center for people and companies fleeing California and New York's sky-high tax rate. People all over the world visit Florida every single day. This sort of alludes to the second question: why does the media love it? News companies always are attached to controversy. Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis (R) is objectively controversial. From his comments on withholding salaries from vaccinated teachers to him stating that the election was stolen (multiple times) and his position as anti-mask when it came to Covid. It probably can be safe to say, no other governor in the country trolls or makes statements in the way he does. 

Media companies love the types of things DeSantis says. Fox and Newsmax praise it while CNN and MSNBC decry it. They respect it and they ridicule it. No other state gets the type of attention that Florida gets, good or bad. So finally, what can we do when it comes to Florida in the future? We need to stop giving Florida all the attention it is getting. Not only is it unnecessarily distracting, but it is also bad for them. A Miami New Times published an article talking about the shame Floridians feel when they keep getting hurled around by the news. Florida Man stories have seriously damaged the ethos of the citizens there and the people according to that MNT article are tired of it. Ironically enough, that article says also that people should be proud of being "mocked and ridiculed". 

So, to conclude, what's next for Florida? I don't live in Florida, but probably one solution is to not keep dogging on Florida all the time. Yes, the governor has made some seemingly glaring bad choices, but that's probably just me. I still think though we need to showcase the positives of Florida, like the economy, and not just the people or policies there. 

About the Author

Hello, my name is Dalton Meeker and I am a part-time Junior here on Orion and Midland Classical Academy.

I love Harry Potter, national parks, epistemology, ontology, and Funko Pops.