In reference to your Upfront article last week, the column entitled “World Gone Wild,” I can’t believe what a callous and demeaning statement Ric E. James made about “the world going to hell in a handbasket thanks to a bunch of bums who didn’t pay their mortgages.” What an ignorant, moronic thing to say.
I know personally people who have lost their homes due to foreclosure and they most certainly aren’t bums. A lot of people are struggling to make their mortgage payments these days. Perhaps they did make an uneducated and naive decision to buy a house with a variable rate that has now gone up to an APR that has made their mortgage payment unaffordable, but to call these people “bums” is the most incompassionate, self-righteous comment I’ve seen about this crisis. How do you pay your mortgage Mr. James, or do you have one? Perhaps you’re one of these lucky people who has wealthy parents that set up a trust fund for you so you don’t have to worry about money. I doubt you’re making enough money as a writer at the Source to afford a house of your own. I’m one of the lucky ones who has a house thanks to wealthy parents, but I don’t look down my nose at people who are working hard and struggling to afford their mortgage payments and hold on to their homes.
Apparently you do. I like The Source for the entertainment info and the restaurant reviews, but often your writers really come off sounding like a bunch of snobs.
B. Carr
Ric E. James responds: The line was written with tongue firmly in cheek. $700 billion later, we know who is responsible for the housing crisis – reckless lenders .
This article appears in Oct 9-15, 2008.
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But we still don’t hear an apology. Your form of putting your tongue in your cheek plays out quite a bit like putting your foot in your mouth. Just say your sorry, your a bad writer and stop being so self righteous.