Should New Jersey Apologize?

Thanks to Flaco Delgado for pointing me to NPR's "Morning Edition" from November 16:

Here's an update on New Jersey's effort to find a tourism slogan. The state rejected the slogan of an image consultant, so residents are making suggestions -- including: "New Jersey -- it's not as bad as it smells." "New Jersey -- why should death end your voting rights?" In honor of the state's governor-elect, one slogan said, "New Jersey -- sold to Corzine." Another slogan offered by the state's own residents says, "At least it's not West Virginia."

Oh, man. Why does everybody want to malign the Wild and Wonderful? Though I am a native West Virginian (close Phronesisaical readers may object that I was born in Maryland and have lived in Texas for what seems, now, like an eternity; I didn't get any say in the former and I'm trying hard to rectify the latter) I am not--as an example to Vicente Fox--I am not going to demand an apology from New Jerseyians. After all, the only reason they know anything at all about West Virgnina, in my experience, is that so many of them attend college there, having failed to qualify for any of the fine institutions in their own state. I say: let's forgive and forget. Folks from West Virginia, if you find yourself unfortunate enough to be driving through the shithole that is New Jersey on your way to some actual tourist destination, be nice: pass your jug of moonshine around, regale the chemical-smelling locals with stories of squirrel hunts gone awry, don't piss on the seats in their fancy indoor toilets. In short: make them wish it were West Virginia, Almost Heaven, instead of New Jersey, Almost New York.