That’s what hurricanes are — life changing forces of nature.
Yet, one man has become famous for his absurd decision to ride out the storm in Tampa in a sailboat.
The man, named Joseph Malinowski, was known by his nickname “Lt. Dan,” after a character from Forest Gump.
Police urged him to leave. He apparently told them he would, but then went back on his boat anyways.
And then he rode out the storm, even going live on social media with a streamer several times throughout the night. Lt. Dan survived, a headline that was written hundreds, if not thousands of times, across the internet following Hurricane Milton.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe has raised more than $40,000 to help “support Lieutenant Dan’s Seafaring Dreams,” as of this writing.
As it turns out, Malinowski has a criminal history, including allegedly punching a police officer in the face and setting a park bench on fire. He’s been to prison.
People can change, sure. Who am I to judge? I don’t know Lt. Dan.
All I know is how the internet, and the world, reacted to his story. He became an internet sensation almost overnight.
Meanwhile, people who fled the storm returned home to destructive damage, and without GoFundMe pages waiting to help pay for their overturned lives.
In its simplest definition, news is what people are talking about. Therefore, Malinowski’s story went from videos on social media to the pages of real news sources around the globe.
Anyone who has worked in journalism long enough has heard someone say, “Why is this news?”
And it’s typically on a story with a bunch of social media reactions showing people care about it.
Readers often blame the media for what they’re seeing online and in newspapers, but news is often dictated by reader and viewer habits. That’s why if you turn on ESPN today, they are probably talking about the Dallas Cowboys, Lebron James or the New York Yankees.
People would rather read about the Florida man who decided to ride out a category three hurricane on his boat than about the presidential election, war overseas or a local municipality voting on an important issue.
I’m glad Lt. Dan made it through Hurricane Milton.
But I hope it doesn’t lead to copycats, who may see the internet attention he received and put themselves in harm’s way for a few dollars.
