Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

The Radio Dept (album) 1 — An indie band from the early 2010s that a zoomer was introduced to by their older millennial brother.

Anime (concept) 1 — A form of Japanese animation that Red Scare discourse suggests is ruining zoomers' artistic potential.

Fremen (concept) 1 — A people from Dune satirically compared to the POC community in a parody of liberal political analysis.

Harkonnen (concept) 1 — A villainous house from Dune satirically compared to Republicans and Bernie Sanders.

Eugenia Cooney (person) 1 — A 27-year-old YouTuber and Twitch streamer from Connecticut who is severely anorexic, was 5150'd after moving to LA, did...

Beth Cosentino (person) 1 — Indie rock musician who went from being an indie rock/Tumblr pop idol in the early 2010s to fronting a band nobody liste...

Nathan Williams (person) 1 — Frontman of Wavves who went from being a dickhead layabout to becoming a landlord.

Wavves (album) 1 — Indie rock band fronted by Nathan Williams who went from MySpace/Pitchfork prominence to obscurity.

Tiffany Haddish (person) 1 — Comedian accused of sexual misconduct alongside Aries Spears in a Daily Beast report.

Aries Spears (person) 1 — Comedian accused of sexual misconduct alongside Tiffany Haddish in a Daily Beast report.

Bert Cooper (person) 1 — Character from Mad Men quoted regarding Napoleon's return from exile.

Lensa (concept) 1 — AI selfie generation app predicted to become cringe within six months.

Gallagher (person) 1 — Prop comedian referenced in discussion of Kanye West's 'Net and Yahoo' comedy bit.

Rajiv Surendra (person) 1 — YouTuber whose channel was recently discovered and loved by a subreddit user during a period of illness.

Lima, Peru (place) 1 — City in Peru where a user was arrested while blackout drunk, an incident that prompted them to commit to sobriety

International Development (concept) 1 — Graduate degree field described as useless by a user who got a master's from a top school but works in a low-paying nonp...

Game Theory Optimal (concept) 1 — The mathematically correct way to play poker in every possible situation, proven by computer software over the past deca...

Balthus (person) 1 — Painter referenced for his work 'Girl and Cat' which contains a provocative center composition.

Arthur Butt (person) 1 — 19th century painter who created 'Eating Ass' (1883), a painting of a donkey having a snack.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (film) 1 — Comedy film praised as an 'all-timer' from the Apatow/Rogen/Segel era of mid-2000s comedy.

Jason Segel (person) 1 — Comedian and actor associated with mid-2000s Apatow comedy era.

Ben Stiller (person) 1 — Comedian who dominated 1990s comedy alongside Jim Carrey.

Social Emotional Learning (concept) 1 — Educational framework for which a school received 20k to spend on activities like gift baskets and personality tests.

r/AustralianTeachers (place) 1 — Australian teacher forum on Reddit where discussions reveal boys falling behind in schools.

r/Internationalteachers (place) 1 — International teacher forum on Reddit where discussions reveal boys falling behind girls in educational achievement glob...

National Enquirer (place) 1 — American tabloid publication used by Trump to spread false stories about Ted Cruz during the 2016 primary, including fak...

Moz (person) 1 — Musician celebrated with birthday post including photos from a 2023 Hammersmith concert.

Hammersmith (place) 1 — London venue where Moz performed a concert in 2023.

Petey Pablo (person) 1 — Rapper referenced in a post about how the internet age has made it impossible to tell fun lies like 'petey pablo recorde...

Raise Up (album) 1 — Song by Petey Pablo used as example of pre-internet fun lies people could tell, claiming he recorded 50 versions for eac...

Illenium (person) 1 — EDM artist whose festival culture is criticized as vulgar with scantily clad, high people flailing to 'the WORST music y...

Fauxtism (concept) 1 — Term defined as honestly believing you have autism when you actually do not, but rather never learned social skills or h...

Zainichi Koreans (concept) 1 — Term for Korean diaspora in Japan who faced difficult choices after WWII between moving to poor military dictatorships i...

Syngman Rhee (person) 1 — American-backed leader who established South Korea after WWII, leading to the Korean War and eventually the ROK state.

DPRK (place) 1 — Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), which appeared attractive to Korean diaspora in Japan as late as th...

ROK (place) 1 — Republic of Korea (South Korea), which in the 1950s-1970s was one of the poorest countries in the world and a military d...

TMG podcast (album) 1 — Podcast associated with Cody Ko whose merchandise fans try to resell on Reddit, exemplifying the cringe of influencer me...

Alain Delon (person) 1 — French actor known for Le Samouraï and Purple Noon, described as The King

Jean Gabin (person) 1 — French actor described as a longtime obsession before discovering Alain Delon

Purple Noon (film) 1 — Film featuring Alain Delon, mentioned as the next pick after discovering Le Samouraï

Rachel Comey (person) 1 — Fashion designer associated with PMC Brooklyn creative types

Evil eye (concept) 1 — Folk belief in supernatural protection appropriated and flattened into emoji usage by PMC millennials

Joseph Heller (person) 1 — Author of Catch-22

All Dogs Go To Heaven (film) 1 — An animated children's film remembered for its dark and ominous vibes beneath a sweet surface.

Spy Kids (film) 1 — A children's film cited as having sweet surface elements but dark ominous undertones.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (film) 1 — A children's film mentioned as having dark ominous vibes beneath its sweet surface.

Sleepy Hollow (film) 1 — An animated movie mentioned as having dark ominous vibes beneath its children's film surface.

James and the Giant Peach (film) 1 — A children's film cited as having dark ominous vibes beneath its sweet surface.

The Rescuers Down Under (film) 1 — A children's animated film mentioned as having dark ominous vibes beneath its sweet surface.

Chinese Spy Balloon (concept) 1 — A geopolitical incident mentioned as the subject of aggressive commentary in an embarrassing subreddit thread about Chin...