Jan Böhmermann is one of Germany’s most famous - and notorious - satirists and TV personalities. He made headlines beyond Germany with his satirical actions, and he regularly comments online on current debates. His Twitter diary recounts events, discussions, and experiences that point to a radically new way of writing history: in real time and head over heels in the present.
When he started tweeting in 2009, the world was a different place. Not many people knew the microblogging news service; it only gradually emerged as a parallel public sphere in which information is disseminated and discussed unfiltered, quickly, and wittily. The approach is radically subjective. What matters is whatever matters to the individual: world politics no less than a new haircut.
In the tradition of great moralists like Montaigne and Lichtenberg, Böhmermann observes himself and the world. He ponders the problem of transporting strawberries, argues with the Federal Minister of Justice, tears into boulevard journalists, shoots off at the mouth with politicians, and debates with rappers. As his reach grows daily, ultimately reaching 2.2 million followers, he also inadvertently becomes a player in this new world: The internet seeps into reality, reality evaporates online.
Jan Böhmermann praises, argues, provokes, questions, informs, jokes, errs, wonders, and embarrasses himself: His tweets, carefully compiled and categorized, are at once an extensive cultural history of the past decade and an entertaining questioning of the world in which we live today.
