Git the Grit Outta Here!

I have to say that this rant has been building up in me for a long time. It's been chafing my groin, getting in somehow under my waistband and bothering me. I can't get it out from under my fingernails. It's grit, and I'm sick of it.

I have had it, so that I can no longer remain silent, with "gritty" being used as a word of praise in describing an artist, musician, or politician.

First, the politicians: at some point I have heard all three of the top remaining Presidential contenders being described as "gritty".

That is nonsense. The only national politician who could really lay claim to grit in his gut is Jimmy Carter.

Even if we go along with the conventional misreading of "gritty" as a synonym for "gutsy" (I think it came from a corruption of the Italian "grinta", which is exactly that, intestinal fortitude), the old John Wayne True Grit kind, I don't buy it. Though Obama was surely exposed to his share of solid atmospheric pollutants during his days playing and working outside in Djakarta, New York, and Chicago, he's a man who's been wearing a tie on an expense account for a long time. Hillary has long left behind her hippie roots, which never strayed that far from the Old Money tree in the first place, and made her peaces with big lobbies and fat salaries. McCain's grittiness was in his low-budget campaign status early on, and isn't that nice? I'm sure it's been rectified now that the scenario has been clarified, and much in his favor.

What those MSM grit-adorners are referring to--code word--is "appearance of toughness", the thing that is supposed to most impress the blue-collar voters who can't apprehend the issues and vote based on pack mentality perceptions.

Music, Art: I can't imagine how we've reached the point where "gritty" is a favorable attribute in art. Yes, I know about "seeing the world in a grain of sand", but that is not at all what we are talking about here. We're talking about the worship of the street--the source of modern, urban grit. The residue of lots of sooty vehicles and stuff the street-sweepers missed.

Once again, we seem to have lost our ability to appreciate the clear, melodious voice, the sharp photographic image ("gritty" is not equal to "grainy", either), the painterly technique. Fashion becomes would-be wolves parading around with their pants waistlines hanging at mid-thigh. "The better to let the grit in, my dear."

I imagine I've gotten my point across by now. If you want to get under my skin, really irritate me, just rub me the wrong way with something gritty.