Welcome to CrowdSource, your weekly guided tour of the latest intellectual disputes, ideological disagreements and national debates that piqued our interest (or inflamed our passions). This week: a look back at 2025.
Join us! CrowdSource features the best comments from The Crowd — our cherished readers and subscribers who, with their comments and emails, help make Wisdom of Crowds what it is.
Our Top Ten Most-Read Articles of 2025:
It’s been a great year at Wisdom of Crowds. We are grateful to you, faithful members of the Crowd, for making what we do possible.
Here’s a list of the top-ten most popular pieces we published in 2025:
10. Christine Emba’s reflection during peak DOGE.
9. Matthew Gasda doesn’t mince words.
8. David Polansky wonders why political scientists have overlooked the major challenge to liberalism in the 21st century.
7. Damir Marusic’s big idea of 2025: the key to our historical moment is not “autocracy” or “technocracy,” but “barbarism.”
6. Katherine Dee’s unique combination of media analysis with moral insight.
5. Matthew Gasda intervenes in the great Romanticism debate.
4. A provocation by David Polansky, cited in the New York Times and National Post.
3. Matthew Gasda says Hollywood has run out of ideas.
2. Tara Isabella Burton looks at recent, high-profile conversions to Christianity.
… and the winner is …
1. Damir Marusic attends a DOGE party.
From Wisdom of Crowds: Happy New Year!
See you next week!
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Happy New Year🍸