Robby Brumberg: "Don’t lose sight of Florida’s many virtues" and a call to change the conversation

This "Point of View" was published in The Palm Beach Post last Wednesday. Robby Brumberg of Delray Beach is a little fed up with the news trollers of the anti-Florida media. They work so diligently to give the state a bad image:

     Fellow Floridians, we are under attack. Our good name continues to be sullied by reckless Internet users who defame this great state. The effort to paint Florida as “the crazy state” — where the weird, the incompetent and the fair weather reside — is an ongoing campaign.
     The anti-Florida media are to blame. Is it really necessary for everyone to know about every shameful or bizarre incident that goes on here? They troll and scour our local news outlets and police reports for salacious scoops, looking for anything that might further their anti-Florida agenda or confirm their bias.

[and he concludes with this. . .]

     We have the Everglades, our water sports are unparalleled, and what state has better animals than Florida? Key deer, Florida panthers, manatees, leatherback turtles, bobcats, thriving populations of escaped exotic birds, alligators … we have it all.
     I could go on. Florida has many great qualities, but you’d never know it from reading the Internet. This is a call to change the conversation.
     Our visitors come down here, swim with our dolphins, ride our rides, fill our parking spaces, and freely partake of our tropical bounty. We welcome them with open arms.
     I have a message for the Florida-haters out there who present a false negative image of our fair state: Enough already. Move on. Or, at the very least, find another state to pick on.