Verbatim quote · from the corpus

“I am going to call this figure whom we should be seeking out and in seeking out hypothesizing regarding the conditions of emergence and features of, the “pointman.” He is at the point, taking the initiative, gathering all initiatives under his banner, and at the same time the one everyone points to, out of wonder, curiosity or outrage, with the finger of accusation. Like the Axial Age sacrificial figure, the pointman must draw all attention to himself, and must compel everyone to choose whether to join or deny him. Everyone will marked by the degree to which they keep “faith” with him. We are speaking of the latest iteration of the Big Man, which also means that what is now commemorated is the pointman’s reception, seizure and eventual transfer of power. The word for “center,” if the Online Etymological Dictionary is to be trusted, derives from the word for “point,” which itself derives from the word to “prick,” i.e., to wound, to cause to bleed. So, I can now replace the clumsy “occupant of the center” with “pointman,” as a more resonant and less technical-sounding synonym. Nor is seeking out the pointman a merely passive stance—it’s not waiting for Godot, because there are a lot of candidates out there and you’re looking for them, testing them when they emerge, drawing conclusions from events they create, contributing to the conditions of their platforming and, indeed, in the process, someone so engaged in the process of pointing out the pointman might end up having been the pointman all along. You might turn out to have been the outside option insofar as you have been contributing to the monopolization of the outside spread.”

— Adam Katz, The Pointman · Jul 29, 2025 · Bouvard Substack