Jorn Barger, Barack Obama, P Diddy, and You!

Jorn Barger, Barack Obama, P Diddy, and You!
13th
November

Posted by Brennan Novak on Nov 13, 2008 in

What do these three men have in common? Blogging, the term for "web log" or posting digital content on the internet, that was coined by Jorn Barger in the late 90s, is what they have in common. Barger, was a computer programmer, and until recently a blogger.

Barack Obama's campaign for presidency extensively used his website and blog. Now that he is President-Elect he launched a 2nd blog called change.gov that aims to make his administration more transparent and accessible to average citizens.

The two American rap icons Kanye West and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs have launched their own blogs. While West's blog focuses more on kitchy designer products and music and Diddy's blog seems to be all over the place ranging from what he looks for in employees (P.Diddy Blog #12), to encouraging people to vote, to musings on exestentialism (Diddy Blog #11) what's most interesting with P. Diddy's blog is, wether he intends this or not, he is bluring the line between celebrity and average citizen- as Obama blurred the line between politician, celebrity and average citizen.

In Diddy Blog 35: "I Am King" (which is embeded below) P. Diddy introduces a mini-movie he made named "I Am King" which he claims is his "audition tape" to become the first black James Bond. Although the film is a high production commercial to market his new fragrance, when juxtaposed against the no production blog entry, it is simultaneously lowering P. Diddy from the pedestal of celebrity to normal citizen. Furthermore, the blog contains a message that is similar to that of spiritual activist Marianne Williamson's passage "Our Deepest Fears" which is often mistakenly attributed to Nelson Mandela.

Blogging is changing the way the human race communicates, understands and runs the world. If you've ever had roommates you'll know how sometimes the best solution is to have a big board with notes in the kitchen so everyone knows who needs to do what chores and who is where doing what. Blogging is like enabling the whole world to do that- let's take a second to understand how jaw-droppingly-awesome that is.