Do people really believe the dumb stereotypes about New Jersey?

I have grown up in New Jersey, and I have always loved it. I live a short ride away from NYC and can see the skyline from my stretch of the highway, the beaches are beautiful with awesome boardwalks (Atlantic City, Cape May, Wildwoods, Point Pleasant), it is one of the most well-educated and wealthiest states. Also, many shows (Amazing, like The Sopranos, and awful ones, Jersey Shore) and movies take place here. I guess we can also credit our vicinity to NYC for SOME of that. Tons of famous people are from here, the list is very long. Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein lived here. We have Princeton, perhaps the most prestigious school in the country (WITH Harvard). We're very proud to be from this incredible state, so it really annoys us when people judge us with dumb stereotypes created by the media. Since we're across from river from NYC, they need someone to pick on, so they choose us. Then these joke are all over the media, and people who don't know any better think it's all true and condemn us without knowing anything. Staten Island and sometimes Long Island suffer from the same treatment, too. I even laugh at New Jersey jokes, they're funny! But when people actually believe it, it sickens me because this state is the exact opposite of what it's portrayed. It's a very nice and desirable place to live, which is why wealthy NYC commuters and famous people choose to live here. One small stretch of the turnpike near New York isn't that pretty, but once you venture more than a few miles out, you see beautiful mountains, beaches, rolling hills and farms. There are many beautiful towns, but we admit that many of our cities are really ghetto (Paterson, Camden, Newark, although Newark is getting a lot better). The state has a lot of biodiversity, ethnic diversity and socioeconomic diversity (though not a good thing exactly..) We also got Cory Booker, the super mayor! Chris Christie is cool too, and this is coming from a left-winger. I don't mean to sound preachy, but it's frustrating when the rest of the country criticizes you when your state is great, like many of the other great states in the country. We know people from NY, PA and Delaware who always come here for our beaches, and they love New Jersey because they've ACTUALLY come and visited. Do any of you actually believe these stereotypes? Have you had any experiences in NJ? Thanks everyone.