Why New Jersey Is the Most Hated State

If you haven't read the Huffington Post lately you probably missed Jennifer Legra's blog post explaining why New Jersey is the most hated State in the nation according to a poll conducted by YouGov.

The bottom line as to why New Jersey is so hated by so many, is because the state and it's residents are awesome and others are jealous of all our awesomeness ! Whether it's the state's unique place in American history, it's many parks and farms, the tough "Jersey Attitude" (that so many of us project) or geological location, there are plenty of reasons not to like New Jersey if you're not from New Jersey.

Read what she has to say:

I was in newlywed type bliss having just arrived back home to New Jersey. Leaving the airport, I told my daughter to breathe it in, "Ahhh, do you smell that? Cologne and cigarettes." I was kidding of course; teasing the way one might tease your favorite cousin - with love and just the right amount of burn. A lady next to me heard me and chuckled, "Ha. I was just thinking the same thing. Jersey has a distinct smell." She wasn't talking about the refineries or the Turnpike (which is the only thing outsiders really know of NJ), she was talking about the familiar smell of home. This chick was from New Jersey, I knew it, because only a New Jerseyan would hear my joke, get it, and revel in it with me. I was home.

A day or two after our arrival, a recent poll by YouGov came out, identifying New Jersey as "the least liked state in America." Well, didn't that just take the wind out of my glad-to-be-home-in-NJ sails. Apparently, "New Jersey is the only state in the country which people tend to have a negative opinion of" to which I would say, "Nice going 'Jersey Shore' cast for depicting us as morons even though half your cast wasn't from New Jersey." But, hey, Jersey tomato - tomatoe. Since I was curious as to why New Jersey is the most hated state, I clicked further into the results and then investigated Jersey more on my own. After mulling it over a bit, I could see why we were the least liked state in America. Let's take a look...

AMERICAN HISTORY

Did you know that the first drive-in movie theater was opened in Camden and that the first baseball game was played in Hoboken, not to mention the first brewery in America was opened here too. Baseball? Beer? Boooooring. Talk about an unAmerican waste of time. More recently, New Jersey has been known for Carli Lloyd, the athlete who pulled out a hat trick at the 2015 World Cup Final, who people are saying might be the best US performance in a title game? And I don't want to mention Tim Howard from the Men's 2014 World Cup Team who might as well be Superman in fear that I might bore you all to death. So, you know, "thanks" New Jersey for producing such mediocre talent. And did you know that silly things like electricity and recorded sound were invented in Thomas Edison's New Jersey laboratory and that George Washington's crossing of the Delaware and victory in Trenton, NJ was the first major victory and a turning point in the war. I mean, Freedom from the Brits, really, who cares?

PARKS AND FARMS

And get this, New Jersey, the 46th smallest state, has 36 state parks. Of the 24 states shown below, only 10 states (mostly the bigger ones) have more. But let's be real, what are parks good for? NJ also ranks high in the production of blueberries (our state fruit), peaches, and cranberries and almost all garden vegetables like the well known Jersey Tomato and Jersey Sweet Corn which come from one of the 10,000+ farms located in this tiny, dumb, park and farm friendly state. Yummy fruit and veggies? What a waste of perfectly good green space.

ATTITUDE

The YouGov survey says that people from New Jersey are "unusually likely to take a hard-nosed attitude towards life" but since it doesn't explain what they mean by this I looked up hard-nosed. It means "realistic and determined; tough-minded." So I'll read that as having a realistic, determined, and tough-minded attitude towards life. G*d damn it, New Jersey. Realistic, really? Get your head stuck high up in those clouds and stop being so rational. And while you're at it, stop being so freaking determined too. Who likes determination anyway? And tough... wait, I have a separate category for that one....

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