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This has gone too far. Our reaction to Jon Stewart’s rant and subsequent apology has done the Hokey Pokey and turned itself around to the point where I’m not sure if people are genuinely bothered by his comments, find them hilarious, or were initially enraged by them but now totally cool about it because, hey, attention! Me me me! Us us us!

Whatever the case, Stewart’s angry New Yorker segment about Philadelphia, which, like most things Stewart does, was brilliant, has been proven right. Though he was pretty much speaking in character, the underlying thread – especially the cream cheese part – was that we have a massive inferiority complex, that we’re the Napoleon of cities even though we don’t need to be. Annnnnnnnnnnnnd our response to him played right into that theme.

I watch the show often and can’t recall a time when Stewart was compelled to lead the show with an apology for an earlier rant, as tongue-in-cheek as this one may have been. The whole thing is a joke, and most people get that, but he struck a nerve, with Philly, that he usually doesn’t strike with other targets. Stewart and his writers picked up on that. And it’s now reached the point where City Council (in a somewhat brilliant PR stunt) has passed a resolution “blasting Jon Stewart’s tirade against Philadelphia” and daring him to do a week of shows here:

Daring Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, to come to Philadelphia and film a week of shows to prove how wrong he was in his May 20th tirade against Philadelphia, our people, our prized Philadelphia Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg, our affinity for running up museum stairs and calling it exercise, and our world class cuisine; his multiple rants against our City have finally gone too far.

WHEREAS, Jon Stewart’s May 20th tirade against Philadelphia accuses us of being idiots, obese, having terrible taste in food, slanderers, and a series of other expletives not safe for children; and

WHEREAS, Stewart was set off because Philadelphia Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg claims to have gotten food poisoning at a Shake Shack near Citi Field in Queens; and

WHEREAS, Using Sandberg’s stomach troubles as a rudimentary segue that a 3rd grade drama student could have thought up, Stewart catapulted into a full scale attack on our people, our reputation for being physically fit, our City, our character, and cheesesteak-eating way of life; and

WHEREAS, Stewart has apparently never been to Philadelphia, where a decade of development has transformed our dining and nightlife scenes into an abundant array of world class options that aren’t overrun with overpaid Wall Street j@#%offs and where you won’t need to sell your first born child to get a table; and

WHEREAS, While New York City has many wonderful sights and sounds, you simply cannot beat Philadelphia for the most passionate sports fans, more acres of parks and public murals than anywhere else in the country, a shockingly affordable cost of living, lack of crowded streets, and more American history than you can shake a stick at; and

WHEREAS, Jon Stewart should check himself when starts trash talking Philadelphia; last time we checked the Mets haven’t won the World Series in nearly thirty years; and

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council dares Jon Stewart to film a week of episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart here in Philadelphia so we can prove just how wrong he is; now, therefore, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Jon Stewart wrapped in either a cheesesteak or cannoli as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.

Yeah, we played right into his hand… but it would be totally cool if he did a week of shows here.

The full resolution is after the jump.

H/T to (@MillerJonathanD)

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