And here is my brief list of what’s overrated in 2025:
- The Manosphere. There is absolutely a shortage of media and advice and information for men. But the manosphere is too narrowly conceived. Most boys and young men aren’t seeking to become “a man” in general. But a certain type of man. And that often means doing a certain type of thing. One masters oneself by mastering well . . . anything else. Unless it’s blown out to include all of woodworking YouTube, hobbyist electronics on Reddit, and voracious readers, I think the manosphere is just too small for most real men.
- Europe. I mean. Do I have to explain? They made a big noise and picked up little of the slack on Ukraine. They spent decades building a fearsome trade bloc only to fold in negotiations with Trump. Now, the European Commission is reduced to bribing countries to vote the right way, and hectoring them to pass hate speech laws.
- Blackwing pencils. Ever since an article in the WSJ these have become a cult item like Moleskine notebooks. Give me a Mitsubishi 9000 or a Tennessee Red any day of the week.
- Large Language Models. It’s not intelligence.