by Rob Perez

2025 Year in Review

As the year comes to a close, Beyond Reason does what it does every year: it adjusts the lens. The rest of the year, we’re zoomed in—tight, intimate, granular. Like when you zoom in on your computer screen and can’t figure out how to back the heck up.

But once a year, we zoom out. Way out. We think about 2025 not as parts, but as a whole. Beyond Reason does this because we aren’t all that fond of parts but we really like wholes.

For example, thinking about previous years, Beyond Reason labeled 2022 a six. 2023 was Taylor Swift; 2024 was a blob. The astute reader will immediately recognize an odd pattern: Number; Person; Shape.

So, to figure out what moniker 2025 will earn, all we need to figure out is what goes after Number, Person, Shape.

One thing that stood out in 2025 is that, as a year, it seemed mean. In previous years, it used to be rude to be mean. But in 2025, something changed. Being mean started to pass for strength. Being mean began to look like confidence. Sometimes being mean even looked like leadership.

In other years, if you had to be mean, you’d do it later, quietly, and preferably behind someone’s back. In 2025, you could be immediate. Public. Right there in the moment. You could go ahead and be ean right to someone’s face.

So that was new.

2025 was also not a particularly strong year for facts. In previous years, facts enjoyed a certain status. If something was a fact, that was generally that. But in 2025, if you didn’t like a fact, you could replace it with another, different fact that was actually an opinion.

So that was also new.

A few other notable things happened in 2025.

Pop culture was dominated by a musical with a green witch, nother musical with Korean pop stars, a doll that’s ugly on purpose, and, once again, surprising everyone and no one – Taylor Swift.

In sporting news, championships were crowned, titles were won, rivalries were fought, and blowouts were plentiful. And somewhere near the other end of the spectrum, people kept trying to convince you that pickleball is a sport.

Also this year in sports, it felt like the sporting companies—each and every one of them—decided that going after your time, your attention, and your emotional well-being was no longer sufficient. They also went straight for your wallet. Betting was made easy. Encouraged, even. You could bet a little. You could bet a lot. You could bet the house. Preferably in a parlay.

There was a time when professional sports aligning themselves with gambling houses would have seemed laughable, unthinkable, inconceivable. In 2025, it was simply part of the broadcast.

I’m told technology continued to improve at an exponential pace, but for some reason AI still can’t figure out how to score a tennis match.

In other news, ordinary folks demonstrated that there is absolutely nothing they won’t watch a celebrity do. Or sell. Or say. Because they’re famous.

In spite of the economic world demonstrating, again and again, that there is no particular need, reason, or inherent value in cryptocurrency, that guy at the gym still wouldn’t stop trying to pitch it to passersby just trying to work out.

Somehow, in 2025, the competition for your eyeballs on their platform, screen, product, etc. got even more intense, with everyone from social media to the NFL to entertainers (and now even your neighbor Herb wants you to like and subscribe) vying for you to look.

So in thinking about the year as a whole, the ins, the outs, the ons, the offs, the nears, the fars, the thin, the fat, and, of course, the moose—it becomes clear that 2025 was not a number, not a person, and not even a shape. 2025 was an illusion. A magic trick. A sleight of hand. Something real was happening right here, but everyone was encouraged to look over there. And for the most part, we looked. We looked because we want to believe we live in a world with magic. It beats the alternative. But wishful thinking only gets you so far. I guess we’ll figure out more about how we did this year when we get to next year. And that’s right around the corner.