说到美国的新闻生态里有一种独特的存在,那就是"Florida Man"——佛罗里达男子。Speaking of a unique presence in American news ecology, that would be "Florida Man."
这三个字在美国已经成了一种文化符号。These words have become a cultural symbol in America.
代表的是一种特定类型的荒谬犯罪新闻。Representing a specific type of absurd crime news.
通常涉及动物、酒精、极差的判断力、和令人匪夷所思的行为逻辑。Usually involving animals, alcohol, terrible judgment, and baffling behavioral logic.
这周又有一条"佛罗里达男子"级别的新闻。Another "Florida Man" level news story dropped this week.
两个游客把一条死鳄鱼绑在了轿车的车顶上。Two tourists strapped a dead alligator to the roof of their sedan.
开着车穿过了佛罗里达中部的三个县。Drove through three counties in central Florida.
经过了迪士尼世界度假区。Passed by the Disney World Resort.
在被人告知违法后用一块白布把鳄鱼盖住。After being told it was illegal, covered the alligator with a white sheet.
最后在一百多公里外被逮捕。And were finally arrested over a hundred kilometers away.
这个故事的每一个细节都值得细说。Every detail of this story is worth examining.
先说主角。First, the main characters.
Anthony Buhl,五十六岁,纽约人。Anthony Buhl, fifty-six, New Yorker.
March Chadwick,五十七岁,田纳西人。March Chadwick, fifty-seven, from Tennessee.
两个中年男人在佛罗里达度假。Two middle-aged men vacationing in Florida.
某天开车时看到路边有一条死鳄鱼。One day while driving they saw a dead alligator on the roadside.
很可能是交通事故的产物。Very likely the product of a traffic accident.
在佛罗里达这种事情非常普遍。This is extremely common in Florida.
这个州有大约一百三十万条野生美洲鳄。The state has about 1.3 million wild American alligators.
它们分布在几乎所有的淡水水体中。They're distributed across virtually every freshwater body.
偶尔出现在游泳池、高尔夫球场、甚至超市门口。Occasionally appearing in swimming pools, golf courses, even supermarket entrances.
鳄鱼过马路被撞死的事情隔三差五就有。Alligators getting hit while crossing roads happens every other day.
本地人看到了连速度都不会减。Locals who see it don't even slow down.
但Buhl和Chadwick不是本地人。But Buhl and Chadwick aren't locals.
他们看到死鳄鱼后的第一反应是:"这个东西可以做标本。Their first reaction upon seeing a dead alligator was: "This thing could be taxidermied."
标本术在美国的南方文化里有一定的传统。Taxidermy has a certain tradition in American Southern culture.
猎人会把鹿角、鱼、甚至整头熊做成标本挂在墙上。Hunters mount deer antlers, fish, even entire bears as specimens on their walls.
这是一种"战利品"文化。This is a "trophy" culture.
但是鳄鱼不一样。But alligators are different.
佛罗里达州法律明确规定。Florida state law explicitly prohibits.
任何人不得猎杀、捕获或持有美洲鳄。Any person from hunting, capturing, or possessing American alligators.
不管是活的还是死的。Whether alive or dead.
即使是路边的尸体也不行。Even roadside carcasses are off limits.
因为美洲鳄曾经濒临灭绝。Because the American alligator was once on the brink of extinction.
虽然现在种群恢复了。Although the population has recovered now.
但法律保护依然有效。Legal protection remains in effect.
这两个人要么不知道这个法律。These two men either didn't know this law.
要么知道但觉得"一条死的没人在乎"。Or knew but thought "nobody cares about a dead one."
不管是哪种情况。Regardless of which.
他们把鳄鱼搬到了车顶上。They loaded the alligator onto their car roof.
用绳子固定好。Secured it with rope.
然后开上了佛罗里达的公路。And drove onto Florida's highways.
一辆普通的轿车。An ordinary sedan.
车顶上绑着一条大鳄鱼。With a big alligator strapped to the roof.
在佛罗里达的阳光下行驶。Driving under Florida's sunshine.
有人最先在迪士尼世界度假区附近看到了他们。Someone first spotted them near the Disney World Resort.
就在奥兰多郊区。Just outside Orlando.
那个每年接待几千万游客的地方。The place that receives tens of millions of tourists annually.
想象一下你带孩子去看米老鼠。Imagine you're taking your kids to see Mickey Mouse.
车顶上绑着一条死鳄鱼。With a dead alligator strapped to the roof.
你的孩子问:"妈妈那是什么?Your kid asks: "Mommy what's that?"
你说:"那是佛罗里达。You say: "That's Florida."
有人拍了照。Someone took photos.
有人报了警。Someone called police.
佛罗里达鱼类和野生动物保护委员会开始追踪这辆车。The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission began tracking the vehicle.
公路上的车牌自动识别系统让追踪变得很容易。Highway license plate recognition systems made tracking easy.
但这两个人还在继续开。But these two kept driving.
从奥兰多一直开到了Melbourne。From Orlando all the way to Melbourne.
Melbourne在佛罗里达的东海岸。Melbourne is on Florida's east coast.
距离奥兰多大概一个半小时。About an hour and a half from Orlando.
中间穿过了至少三个县。Crossing at least three counties.
但整个故事最精彩的细节不是这些。But the most brilliant detail of the whole story isn't any of this.
是中间发生的一件事。It's something that happened in between.
在路上有人告诉了他们。Someone on the road told them.
"你们不能拿鳄鱼。"You can't take alligators. It's illegal."
这是违法的。The court document's original text reads as follows.
法院文件的原文是这样写的。"After being warned by multiple parties that possession of the alligator is illegal, the defendants covered the alligator with a white sheet."
"被告在被多方告知持有鳄鱼违法后。They didn't put the alligator back on the roadside.
用白布覆盖了鳄鱼。They took out a white sheet.
他们没有把鳄鱼放回路边。And covered the alligator.
他们拿出一块白布。Like putting a bedsheet over it.
把鳄鱼盖住了。As if what you can't see doesn't exist.
就像给它盖了一床被子。This behavior in legal terms is called "attempting to conceal evidence of a crime."
好像看不见就不存在了。But in cultural terms it's called "burying one's head in the sand."
这个行为在法律上叫做"试图隐藏犯罪证据"。If you were to describe it with a Chinese idiom.
但在文化上它叫做"掩耳盗铃"。It would probably be "no silver three hundred taels buried here."
如果用中文的成语来形容。A raised alligator-shaped lump on the car roof.
大概就是"此地无银三百两"。Covered with a white sheet.
车顶上一个鳄鱼形状的隆起。Anyone with eyesight can tell it's an alligator.
盖了一块白布。Police finally stopped them in Melbourne.
任何有视力的人都能看出那是一条鳄鱼。Both admitted they knew it was illegal.
最终警察在Melbourne把他们拦下了。They said they just wanted to have it taxidermied.
两人承认他们知道这是违法的。Both were charged with illegal killing, possession, or capture of American alligators.
他们说就是想做标本。This is a third-degree felony in Florida.
两人都被控非法猎杀、持有或捕获美洲鳄。Each posted five thousand dollars bail.
这在佛罗里达是三级重罪。Arraignment scheduled for April 28th.
每人交了五千美元的保释金。Now pulling back from the news level to look at this.
定于四月二十八号出庭受审。Why has "Florida Man" become a cultural phenomenon?
现在从新闻层面拉远一点来看这件事。There's a structural reason.
为什么"佛罗里达男子"会成为一种文化现象?Florida has a public records law called the "Sunshine Law."
这有一个结构性的原因。It's the most transparent in all of America.
佛罗里达有一个叫做"阳光法案"的公共记录法。All arrest records, police reports, and court documents are public.
是全美国最透明的。Any reporter, or even any ordinary person, can access them.
所有的逮捕记录、警察报告、法院文件都是公开的。This means every absurd arrest in Florida.
任何记者、甚至任何普通人都可以查看。Can be quickly discovered and reported.
这意味着佛罗里达的每一次荒唐逮捕。What about other states?
都可以被迅速发现并报道。Equally absurd things are happening.
而其他州呢?You just can't see them.
同样荒唐的事情也在发生。Because those states' records aren't public.
只是你看不到。So "Florida Man" isn't because Floridians are crazier.
因为那些州的记录不公开。It's because Florida's law lets you see all the craziness.
所以"佛罗里达男子"不是因为佛罗里达人更疯狂。This is a story about information transparency.
而是因为佛罗里达的法律让你看到了所有的疯狂。But most people don't think about this layer.
这是一个关于信息透明度的故事。They just see a dead alligator on a car roof.
但大多数人不会想到这一层。Then covered with a white sheet.
他们只看到了一条死鳄鱼在车顶上。Then two middle-aged tourists being walked out of a police station in handcuffs.
然后被一块白布盖着。Then they laugh.
然后两个中年游客被铐着手走出警察局。That's enough.
然后笑了。Sometimes news doesn't need to change the world.
这就够了。It just needs to make you, at the end of a day.
它只需要让你在一天结束的时候。And think: "At least I didn't do anything that stupid today."
笑一下。This is the purpose of "Florida Man" news.
然后心想:"还好我今天没有做那么蠢的事。But if you're willing to think one step further.
这就是"佛罗里达男子"新闻存在的意义。This story has a deeper level.
但如果你愿意多想一步。The behavior of "covering the problem with a white sheet."
这个故事还有一个更深的层面。In legal terms it's called attempting to conceal criminal evidence.
就是"用白布盖住问题"这个行为。But in psychology it describes a very common human behavior pattern.
它在法律上叫试图隐藏犯罪证据。When we face a problem we don't want to deal with.
但在心理学上它描述的是一种非常常见的人类行为模式。Many people's first reaction isn't to solve it.
当我们面对一个我们不想处理的问题时。But to pretend it doesn't exist.
很多人的第一反应不是解决它。Cover it up.
把它盖起来。Then keep walking forward.
把它藏起来。Until someone stops you and says "sir there's an alligator on your roof."
然后继续往前走。This isn't a trait unique to Floridians.
直到有人拦住你说"先生你车顶上有一条鳄鱼"。This is a human trait.
这不是佛罗里达人独有的特质。We all have our own "car roof alligators."
这是人类的特质。We all have our own "white sheets."
我们都有自己的"车顶鳄鱼"。The only difference is some people's alligators are smaller.
我们都有自己的"白布"。Less easy to spot.
区别只是有的人的鳄鱼比较小。While some people's alligators are strapped to the roof.
而有的人的鳄鱼绑在了车顶上。Getting caught by police license plate scanners.
经过了迪士尼。So the reason this story is funny.
被警察的车牌识别系统拍到了。Isn't just because it's absurd.
所以这个故事之所以好笑。It's because we see ourselves in the absurdity.
不只是因为它荒谬。That person trying to cover a problem with a sheet and pretend everything's normal.
而是因为我们在荒谬中看到了自己。We've all more or less done the same thing.
那个试图用一块布掩盖问题然后假装一切正常的人。Our "alligator" just might not be an actual alligator.
我们多多少少都做过同样的事。It might be an unanswered email.
只是我们的"鳄鱼"不一定是真的鳄鱼。A bill we don't want to face.
它可能是一封没回的邮件。A relationship we're afraid to end.
一个不想面对的账单。We're all driving.
一段不敢结束的关系。There's something on the roof.
我们都在开着车。We're all driving.
车顶上有东西。There's something on the roof.
然后我们盖了一块布。Then we covered it with a sheet.
直到有人拦住我们。Until someone stops us.
佛罗里达男子只是把这件事做得比较字面而已。Florida Man just does it more literally.