Florida is NOT All Bad

[ericadawn16]

I've been avoiding a lot of the internet lately and social media and cringing at some of the talk shows.

When people talk about everyone in Florida being "a waste of space" as one person put it. I try not to but it hurts. Florida is not only my home, it has my mom, my family, my friends, so many that I love.

So I've compiled a list of things to show how we're not all racists who don't believe in science or equality as everyone is trying to make us out to be. We're generally weird but the majority of the time, it's in a nice way.

1. Florida is the ONLY Southern state to vote that Obama should be president in 2008 AND 2012.

2. The University of Tampa contains a monument from the Gravity Research Foundation.

3. The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens at Delray Beach was opened in 1977 as the first museum in the United States dedicated exclusively to the living culture of Japan.

4. The first monument in the United States dedicated to Atheism was erected in Starke, Florida on June 29, 2013.

5. Tampa's police chief is not just a woman, she's also very open about being a Lesbian. There are also homosexuals serving on the Hillsborough county commissioner as well as serving in the Florida House of Representatives for parts of Miami and Orange county.

6. Fort Gadsden. Never heard of it? It contained the first fort entirely manned by African-Americans, Seminoles and Choctaws. They were so successful at raiding and fighting the slavery states that surrounded them that the federal government saw them as threat. The utter massacre that Andrew Jackson and his men conducted on the fort is what led to the Seminole Wars.

7. Jacqueline Cochran grew up in Florida and later helped found Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Unfortunately, she was ashamed of her poor Florida roots though.

8. If not for Florida, you wouldn't have mechanical refrigeration, manufactured ice, air conditioning, sunscreen, commercial flights, Gatorade, Trillian, Wikipedia and Merrill Lynch.

9. Florida also gave you Jim Morrison, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Backstreet Boys, *nsync, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Ray Charles, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Mandy Moore, Victor Nuñez, Sidney Poitier, Bob Ross, Bob Vila, Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen, Zora Neale Hurston, Gloria Estefan, Willa Ford, Tom Petty, and Butterfly McQueen.

10. If not for Florida, Johnny Depp would probably have been a respected insurance agent or other boring career. I'm going to guess the same about Channing Tatum, Megan Fox, Mickey Rourke, Aasif Mandvi, Vanilla Ice and Carrot Top.

11. Florida isn't currently enacting anti-abortion legislation or forcing everyone to carry identification at all times unlike other states I could name.

12. We have real mermaids.

Comments

[daxcat79.livejournal.com]

People just need to stop generalizing. They do it all the time and its stupid and disrespectful.

[jackdavfan692.livejournal.com]

People are seriously demonizing all Floridians because one shot & killed an unarmed seventeen-year-old African-American boy, and a jury found the aforementioned shooter not guilty?! Jeez =/! I'm really sorry to hear that :(!

[cp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been pretty much tuning out the news on reactions to the verdict and aftermath because I'm just over it. And of course generalizations are stupid. It could have happened anywhere--well, anywhere that the NRA and ALEC have been able to implement a Stand Your Ground type of law, anyway.

Good list, though. There's lots to be proud of here, I think, and everywhere has its share of morons. :) Funny, though, I of course knew about the pro-atheism display in Starke and I approve, but it sounds funny to me to call it a monument to atheism. Atheism just seems like it would be rather anti-monument, you know? :)

[kanashimichan.livejournal.com]

Demonizing all of us down here really sucks. But hey, I'm right there with you on still loving my state, fellow Floridian. <3

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

People do need to stop demonizing Florida - it's just really close-minded and stupid...

[celeste9]

Aw. I used to spend a few weeks every summer in Florida and have very fond memories of it! My mom's parents lived there before they died, and also her youngest sister who died when I was little. My great-aunt still lives there, she has the most amazing outdoor whirlpool hot tub. *g*

[i-llbedammned.livejournal.com]

Oh man, real mermaids! That's sounds like a place I want to visit.

I actually do want to visit the Japanese gardens one day.

I understand where you are coming from. I live in New Jersey and we get all sort of shit from people all the time. I've come to terms with us being mocked, and the spirit of the state has responded with bitter sarcasm.

[nesmith.livejournal.com]

My sister and her partner live in FL so I definitely know it's not all bad. ;)

I think emotions are running high right now and you really can't take it personally; or rather, you have to find a way not to take it that way. (Trust me, as a childfree person and someone who lives in Cleveland, I have a lot of experience on that front). People are angry, disgusted, and disappointed, and free-floating rage is the least discerning of all. I think frustration with those in power (and everyone who voted for them) is making a lot of people paint with broad brushes, but I don't think if you asked any one of them that they mean every single person in Florida.

It sure would be nice if they'd make that clear, though. Relying on others to know that "well I didn't mean everyone" is a weak defense.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

Thank you, now I can't stop picturing Johnny Depp, Channing Tatum, and Mickey Rourke as insurance agents.

12. We have real mermaids.

DO WANT.

Also, I love vacationing in the Panhandle, on the Forgotten Coast (St. George Island FTW). It's very nice and relaxed there.

Every state has its share of bad press. I come from Methland, home of "If it's a legitimate rape..." You guys have a lot more going for you than Missouri does.

[twhitesakura.livejournal.com]

I've never thought bad of Florida (place of Disneyworld and oranges and beautiful beaches) but thanks for letting me learn some things I didn't know. =)

[brass-cojones.livejournal.com]

Can I share this list on Facebook or do you have a link to it on your Facebook that I can cross post to folks on mine. It's true that a lot of folks I know were really down on Florida. I know not everyone in Florida believes the way the system works is a good way - are there groups of people there who are fighting to create social justice and equity?

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Here's the link but I also don't mind if you repost or add what you'd like to it.

Here are some relevant links:
9 pages of Florida Social Justice Organizations, some are questionable but most I agree with this definition.
http://sfjwj.org/files/FL%20Social%20Justice%20Orgs.pdf
Additional Organizations
http://www.irregularnews.com/states/florida.html
http://www.progressflorida.org/
http://eqfl.org/

This is a local radio station who describes itself as "the far left of the dial". This has more than one meaning.

http://www.wmnf.org/
Additionally, there are MoveOn and Change. Move-On also has enough response to have multiple events in the large cities. Even in our little town, we had a house office for Obama's re-election with two satellite offices.

This a list of food pantries, many run out of churches, and it's not even a complete list because I know of at least three not even on it. Plus, a local church is trying to open a homeless shelter.
http://www.gethelpflorida.org/pantries.shtml#.Ueyc1UCBnbM

We even have liberal media as well, like the Tampa Bay Times.