Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

Mary Anne Walkley (person) 1 — 20-year-old dressmaker who died after working 26.5 hours straight, documented in Marx's Capital as an example of extreme...

Princess of Wales (person) 1 — Newly-imported British royal for whom Mary Anne Walkley and other workers labored to create ball dresses.

Stockton Rush (person) 1 — Millionaire who died in his own company's submersible, whose name is described as fitting for a playwright's character d...

Western Union (place) 1 — Money transfer service mentioned as a means for remittances to Latin America that could be banned to encourage self-depo...

One World Government (concept) 1 — Conspiracy theory framework referenced in discussion of immigration enforcement as serving left-right dialectics.

Intersectional Theory (concept) 1 — Theoretical framework criticized as being appropriated by insincere people to appoint themselves as unaccountable moral ...

Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) (concept) 1 — Philosophy advocating for positive thinking as conducive to attracting happiness and prosperity, presented as alternativ...

Google Fi (concept) 1 — Google's mobile phone service criticized for having annoying YouTube commercials with stupid songs

Baby Yoda (concept) 1 — Character from Star Wars franchise associated with modern liberalism and performative joy over political outcomes

Trauma Dumping (concept) 1 — Phenomenon where people share deeply personal information with near-strangers, leaving the recipient unsure how to respo...

John Hinckley Jr (person) 1 — Would-be presidential assassin whose music-making is compared to Daniel Johnston's lo-fi aesthetic

Sensitivity readers (concept) 1 — Editorial professionals employed by publishers to scan manuscripts for problematic content, criticized as producing cens...

Ja'mie (person) 1 — A character from Australian comedy who a user suggests would be a Red Scare podcast listener based on her personality.

Duluth (place) 1 — Bob Dylan's childhood city in Minnesota, described by Knausgård as appearing gray and industrial by day but magical at n...

Snorlax (concept) 1 — Pokemon character that a sleeping student was photoshopped as in a humorous graduate school incident.

Jigglypuff (concept) 1 — Pokemon character that a monotonous professor was photoshopped as, with the joke being that Jigglypuff's song puts every...

Josh Homme (person) 1 — Musician who collaborated with Alex Turner and is suggested to have influenced Turner's shift toward a faux-American cro...

The Last Shadow Puppets (album) 1 — Side project of Alex Turner described as incredible and influential on the last two Arctic Monkeys albums.

Six Feet Beneath the Moon (album) 1 — King Krule album cited as his most popular work despite being middling in his discography

Salad Days (album) 1 — Mac DeMarco album cited as his most popular work despite being middling in his discography

SUNY Binghamton (place) 1 — State University of New York campus referenced disparagingly in context of financial industry workers during economic re...

Russia-Ukraine War (concept) 1 — The military conflict used as a comparison point for potential escalation in the Balkans.

The Olympians (concept) 1 — The ancient Greek pantheon of gods, discussed as an alternative to modern Christianity in Greece.

Shinto (concept) 1 — The traditional Japanese religion discussed as a lost alternative to modern atheism in Japan.

Mimetic Collapse (concept) 1 — A concept from Freddie deBoer about how online discourse becomes unhinged and removed from everyday experience.

Ukraine War Military Casualties (concept) 1 — The approximately 200,000 military deaths in Ukraine since the Russian invasion, discussed as a tragic reality.

The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (concept) 1 — One of FDR's signature New Deal programs that brought electricity to rural America, discussed in the context of art exhi...

Tortured artist (concept) 1 — A myth discussed on the subreddit that emotional suffering is necessary for artistic creation, challenged by a poster wh...

Social anxiety (concept) 1 — Mental health condition discussed by a poster who describes being nervous, awkward, and unable to change despite many at...

PFAS chemicals (concept) 1 — Industrial chemicals theorized by a poster to be responsible for increased mental illnesses including autism, anxiety di...

New York Times Book Review (place) 1 — Literary publication criticized for publishing dreadful, banal prose focused heavily on race with no real criticism

Columbia Plateau (place) 1 — Vast, washed-out lowlands in Washington state located beyond the last basalt mountains

r/HumansBeingBros (place) 1 — Reddit community focused on celebrating acts of human kindness, used as an example of an online space someone might mode...

Aurora shooting (concept) 1 — 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado that occurred during an election year

Orlando nightclub shooting (concept) 1 — 2016 mass shooting that occurred during an election year alongside Trump-related controversies

Abdul Malik Badreddin al-Houthi (person) 1 — Houthi leader to whom a poster sends blessings in a post about skunks

Oval Office (place) 1 — Location of Biden's address about not running for reelection

UIC Pavilion (place) 1 — Third-tier basketball arena in Chicago where Cage the Elephant performed

The Byrds (album) 1 — 1960s rock band whose music was played by a 74-year-old woman while watering flowers

Chimes of Freedom (album) 1 — Song by The Byrds that a 74-year-old woman was playing while watering her garden

Transubstantiation (concept) 1 — Christian theological doctrine that the poster believes would make Christ cringe, representing denominational quibbling ...

Jeremiah Johnson (film) 1 — Film referenced as an example of withdrawing from civilization, which the poster considers doing to escape political deb...

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (place) 1 — U.S. federal agency created during the Nixon administration to protect human health and the environment.

Paris Peace Agreement (concept) 1 — Vietnam War peace accord negotiated during Nixon administration.

Cobra Kai (film) 1 — TV series referenced by someone with a karate fetish for featuring actors in karate gis.

Peyton List (person) 1 — Actress from Cobra Kai mentioned in context of karate fetish.

Meta AI (concept) 1 — Facebook's AI chatbot that a father mistook for one of his friends.

X Factor (film) 1 — Talent competition show that appears in manipulative engagement bait content.

Southwestern Ontario (place) 1 — Region of Canada, home to Justin Bieber, referenced in relation to his appearance.

Banned Book Week (concept) 1 — Annual event criticized for having a low threshold for what constitutes a banned book.