Chris from Sacramento, Thank You!
So, the mystery is solved! We now know who made the YouTube clip using the audio from the caller Deborah from Georgia, the angry wingnut who called the show a few weeks ago. (I've included the vid clip at the bottom of this post too).
Listener Chris, from Sacramento, came forward on the Signorile Show Fan Group page on Myspace, which was created by -- and is completely run by-- listeners to the show.
Chris gets why I engage these people on the show, as well as the spirit with which we laugh at them (and even sometimes make them into perverse cult figures on the show), disempowering their nutty, hate-tinged words. I was moved by what Chris, who is Latino (and let's not forget about Deborah's rants against immigrants), wrote in the Myspace group discussion about what motivated him to make the vid clip, and I want to share it here:
"When I heard the original call several weeks ago I was in my car driving to work. I've heard plenty of angry, hate filled callers on Mike's show in the past but the rage that emanated from Deborah resonated within me and I found it particularly upsetting.
"In all honesty, she scared the daylights out of me.
"To me, it went beyond her obvious rage and twisted logic that we all heard that day. What I also heard in her voice was fear, and we all know what can happen when fear overtakes people. Human judgment becomes clouded and is guided solely by extreme emotions. Hasty and thoughtless behaviour, finger pointing, and the ability to hate and scapegoat becomes second nature. This is exactly what I heard coming from Deborah that day.
"With much sadness I was reminded by this call that people like her are everywhere in this country, and initially I was disappointed with Michelangelo for giving her so much airtime although now I understand why its so important that he did.
"When I created the original youtube clip of the conversation it was raw, had no laugh track and was originally titled, 'What is happening to this country?' Afterward, I continued to think a great deal about Deborah, trying to analyze why I felt so emotionally screwed by that entire conversation. I was becoming really angry and decided the best way for me to defuse some of that tension was to go back, re-edit the clips, add music and a laugh track, and just try to make a mockery out of Deborah and all the other individuals in this country that share her views.
"Call it self therapy I guess. :) "
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