Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

Palace of the Republic (place) 1 — East German parliament building (1976-2008) that also served as public space with shops, restaurants, and cultural venue...

GDR (German Democratic Republic) (place) 1 — East Germany, referenced as the state that operated the Palace of the Republic.

Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) (person) 1 — A musician discussed as the definitive example of an 'industry blank' who constantly reinvents himself across different ...

Bad Boy (place) 1 — A record label run by Diddy that first signed Machine Gun Kelly.

Tall Poppy Syndrome (concept) 1 — Irish cultural tendency to cut down or resent those who achieve success or stand out, requiring constant self-deprecatio...

The Sphere (place) 1 — A large spherical entertainment venue in Las Vegas praised as an amazing piece of technology despite being potentially t...

Sympathy is a Knife (album) 1 — A Charli XCX song interpreted as self-introspective exploration of inability to mask emotions rather than an attack on a...

Hootsuite (place) 1 — Social media management platform whose sales representatives engage in aggressive cold-calling tactics.

Chippendale (place) 1 — Sydney neighborhood that contains the historic Strickland Building, surrounded by modern architecture.

Katie Hopkins (person) 1 — British media personality cited as an example of a provocateur who can be effectively no-platformed due to lack of indep...

Brandeis (place) 1 — University attended by Liz Bruenig and a Reddit poster, with a predominantly Jewish student population

Dolce & Gabbana (person) 1 — Fashion brand that sued Diet Prada for defamation

Diet Prada (place) 1 — Instagram account run by Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler that was sued by Dolce & Gabbana for defamation

Tony Liu (person) 1 — Co-founder of Diet Prada criticized as 'vile' in connection with Dolce & Gabbana lawsuit

Lindsey Schuyler (person) 1 — Co-founder of Diet Prada criticized as 'vile' in connection with Dolce & Gabbana lawsuit

Pushkin (person) 1 — Russian writer cited for the observation that 'Othello is not jealous, he is trusting'

Reichstag fire (concept) 1 — Historical event used as comparison for sensationalized Trump-era news stories by leftists

Persona 5 (film) 1 — Video game whose protagonist is referenced as the ideal of femboy aesthetics

Blair-era Labour Party (concept) 1 — British political era referenced ironically in a satirical post about loyalty to the system

Lynchian (concept) 1 — Aesthetic concept coined by David Foster Wallace describing 'the unbelievably grotesque existing in union with the unbel...

Panama Papers (concept) 1 — Referenced as a comparison for hypothetical mass exposure of elite pedophile networks, representing large-scale document...

Jesse Eisenberg (person) 1 — Actor mentioned as part of the 'whimpy whiney loser' typecast group, compared unfavorably to Paul Dano's acting abilitie...

Interpersonal Functioning in Borderline Personality Disorder Traits: A Social Media Perspective (book) 1 — 2020 academic study cited as proving that people displaying BPD symptoms are more likely to post more on social media, e...

Dale-Chall readability formula (concept) 1 — Text analysis metric used to assign grade levels to writing, from '4th grader' to 'College level', used in analyzing sub...

VADER sentiment score (concept) 1 — Sentiment analysis tool designed for social media that assigns positive, negative, and neutral sentiment scores, used to...

Jay Bauman (person) 1 — A member of RedLetterMedia described as a 'glow up hero' in a discussion about the channel being Red Scare-adjacent.

Scary of 61st (film) 1 — A film that RedLetterMedia favorably reviewed, mentioned as a point in favor of the channel being Red Scare-adjacent.

Sebastiane (film) 1 — A gay art house film about Saint Sebastian with entirely Latin dialogue, described as essentially softcore porn, which a...

Vice Media (place) 1 — A media company that filed for bankruptcy, known for drug dealer interviews, food content, and war reporting.

The Glow Pt 2 (album) 1 — An album by Phil Elverum praised for making loneliness and longing palatable, and for turning personal tragedy into beau...

Nothing Gold Can Stay (book) 1 — A poem by Robert Frost referenced as an example of poetry children were made to memorize and recite.

The Arrow and the Song (book) 1 — A poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow referenced as an example of poetry children were made to memorize and recite.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (person) 1 — A poet whose work 'The Arrow and the Song' was referenced as poetry children memorized.

Saint Sebastian (person) 1 — A Christian saint and martyr who is the subject of the film Sebastiane.

The Real Anthony Fauci (book) 1 — A book by RFK Jr. that makes controversial claims about Anthony Fauci with extensive footnotes and sources, described as...

Ivermectin (concept) 1 — A drug that RFK Jr. is described as being obsessed with in his book about Fauci.

Nigerian American (concept) 1 — Cultural identity referenced in the context of parental expectations around marriage and career timing.

Pixel 4a (concept) 1 — A cheap non-iPhone smartphone option that reliably traveled the country and globe before dying.

Cat SS2 (concept) 1 — A smartphone with a T9 keyboard designed to provide friction to reduce scrolling behavior.

Barclays Center (place) 1 — Brooklyn venue near which someone was scouted while working at a chicken joint.

Ethereal Darkwave (concept) 1 — A music genre with a distinctive visual aesthetic in album covers.

Tal Hanan (person) 1 — A 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative who runs a team that claims to have manipulated more than 30 elect...

Sichuan cuisine (concept) 1 — One of eight major Chinese food traditions, considered superior to most Japanese or Korean food by the poster.

Weight Watchers (concept) 1 — Commercial weight loss program that coworkers are all paying for while complaining about being fat.

Hobby Lobby (place) 1 — Craft store chain referenced as source of decorative signs for coworker home decor.

Logan's Run (film) 1 — 1976 science fiction film noted for its casual nudity and non-sexualized display of the female form.

A Hidden Life (film) 1 — 2017 film about dignity and morality that references George Eliot's Middlemarch in its epigraph about unhistoric acts.

Queen Elizabeth III (person) 1 — Fictional or conspiratorial figure invoked in alternative history belief system about black enslavement.

Dries Van Noten (person) 1 — Belgian fashion designer who invited Kanye West to dinner after a runway show in the late 2010s.

Russian Empire (concept) 1 — Historical Russian state that held its last major ball at the Winter Palace in 1903.