The Point

Recently I read “The 2020 Disinformation War” by McKay Coppins in The Atlantic magazine. It made me think of an album from 1970 called “The Point” by Harry Nilsson. The album tells a story through narrative and song about a land called Point. Everyone in Point has a pointed head except the story’s hero, a young boy named Oblio. Through the political machinations of the evil Count Oblio and his dog Arrow are banished to the Pointless Forest, a place where no citizen of Point has ever been.

While in the Pointless Forest Oblio and Arrow encounter the Rock Man. They tell the Rock Man about their banishment and ask him if they are in the Pointless Forest. The following conversation ensues:

Rock Man: Say baby there ain’t nothin’ pointless about this gig. The thing is you see what you wanna see, and you hear what you wanna hear. Ya dig? Did ya ever see Paris?

Oblio: No.

Rock Man: Did ya ever see New Delhi?

Oblio: No.

Rock Man: Well that’s it. Ya see what you want to see, and you hear what you want to hear.

After more adventures Oblio and Arrow make it back to Point. He’s greeted with a hero’s welcome as the only person ever to enter the Pointless Forest and return. The Count is infuriated that Oblio has come back and reminds him that he was banished to the Pointless Forest:

Oblio: But we went to the Pointless Forest and not only that but it’s not pointless at all

(What? Gasps the crowd)

Count: Nonsense! You’re in trouble!

The King, a good man, arrives at the scene and exclaims “Not so fast Count. What do you mean not pointless Oblio?”

Oblio recalls how the trees are pointed, the branches are pointed, leaves are pointed, and everyone they met in the Pointless Forest had a point. More gasps are heard from the crowd. Oblio’s final words are

“It’s just like here. And we figure that since everything has a point, Then I must have one too.”

Someone in the crowd yells out “He’s got a point there!” A bell sounds from the steeple, and all the points on everyone’s head in the land of Point begin to melt. Except for Oblio: upon removal of his cap he has become the only person with a point on his head.

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Nilsson provides no interpretation for his story, but for me the message for today is quite simple: In the parochialism that exists across all of America we’d do ourselves a favor by 1) recognizing “we hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see”, and 2) being the brave person in the crowd that acknowledges the point made by the Oblio in our midst.