Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

Three Imaginary Boys (album) 1 — The Cure's debut album released in 1979

One Step Beyond... (album) 1 — Madness's debut album released in 1979

Join Hands (album) 1 — Siouxsie and the Banshees album released in 1979

The Tour of Life (concept) 1 — Kate Bush's 1979 concert tour

The Specials (album) 1 — The Specials' self-titled debut album released in 1979

Rams (film) 1 — 2018 documentary about designer Dieter Rams showing him pointing at and criticizing various designs

George Nelson (person) 1 — Designer criticized by Dieter Rams in the 2018 documentary Rams

Frank Gehry (person) 1 — Architect whose work is criticized by Dieter Rams in the documentary Rams

University of Athens (place) 1 — Greek university where a philosophy professor took students to a show during a study abroad program.

TIME (place) 1 — Magazine that published a "People of the Year" issue that sparked discussion about widespread AI opposition despite its ...

Cypresses (book) 1 — 1889 painting by Vincent Van Gogh described as beautiful and displayed at The Met museum in New York.

Taschen (place) 1 — Publisher of large, impressive-looking art books discussed as potential gift options for people with good taste.

MatchGroup (place) 1 — Dating app company whose algorithms are satirically blamed for determining romantic and reproductive outcomes through da...

Ray of Light (album) 1 — Madonna album and song shared as a musical recommendation on the subreddit.

Still Processing (film) 1 — New York Times pop culture podcast criticized for doing an episode on the 2020 election without mentioning Bernie Sander...

Ljubljana (place) 1 — City in Slovenia where Slavoj Žižek was on lockdown during COVID-19 pandemic, making him potentially available for podca...

Snap Fitness (place) 1 — Generic gym chain mentioned as example of bland corporate tenants in gentrified mixed-use developments.

Bonobos (place) 1 — Clothing brand mentioned derisively as typical attire of WallStreetBets traders celebrating alongside wealthy elites.

Bumble class action suit (concept) 1 — A legal class action lawsuit against the dating app Bumble, referenced sarcastically by a user

True crime media (concept) 1 — A genre of media focused on real criminal cases, criticized as potentially brain-rotting content

Streetwear (concept) 1 — Hypebeast fashion style worn predominantly by men, seen as part of flattened contemporary fashion trends

Saint/Savage Complex (concept) 1 — A proposed gender inverse of the Madonna/Whore Complex where women view men as either pure/patient or perverted after se...

On Self Respect (book) 1 — An essay by Joan Didion critiquing victimhood culture and lack of agency, seen as relevant to contemporary anxiety about...

Metra (place) 1 — Chicago commuter rail system mentioned as connecting suburban home to downtown for a potential move

Martin Shkreli (person) 1 — Pharmaceutical executive who became infamous for price gouging, discussed as having defenders among certain online commu...

R v Pelletier, 2016 ONCJ 628 (book) 1 — A Canadian legal judgment addressing an Indigenous woman with addiction issues, notable for being written in plain langu...

Elizabeth Fry Society (place) 1 — A center in Toronto that provides services for women, mentioned in a legal judgment about an Indigenous woman's rehabili...

Regina (place) 1 — Capital city of Saskatchewan, mentioned as the home location where an offender in a legal case initially joined a gang a...

Petrov Incident (concept) 1 — The 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident where a Soviet officer prevented potential nuclear war by correctly identif...

Schrodinger's cat (concept) 1 — A quantum mechanics thought experiment used to illustrate quantum superposition and probability.

Boston Legal (film) 1 — A television show watched on a date, mentioned casually in a post about polyamory communities.

Airbag (album) 1 — Radiohead song discussed as containing spiritual themes of salvation and rebirth after near-death experience

Blinkist (place) 1 — App that summarizes difficult books in 15 minutes, criticized as part of life optimization trend

Dan Humphrey (person) 1 — Character from Gossip Girl cited as an example of the sad manwhore archetype popular in the 2000s

Joji (person) 1 — Musician whose work is described as one of the last partial refuges of the sad manwhore archetype

Jeremy Strong (person) 1 — Actor whose fashion sense is described as embodying the sad manwhore archetype despite being married

Kukur Tihar (concept) 1 — Festival for the celebration of dogs that the poster learned about from the subreddit

Dunning-Kruger (concept) 1 — Cognitive bias referenced as characteristic of annoying Reddit debate style, specifically replies starting with 'Eh'

The Line (place) 1 — Proposed linear megacity project in Saudi Arabia discussed as an unlikely vanity project

Jeddah Tower (place) 1 — Proposed kilometer-tall building in Saudi Arabia cited as more feasible than The Line

Intelligentsia (concept) 1 — Social class of educated professionals and creatives discussed as family background

Hanging Gardens of Babylon (place) 1 — Ancient wonder referenced in comparison to Nazi flak tower conversion

Faustian soul (concept) 1 — Spenglerian concept of Western civilization's striving nature referenced regarding megastructures

INFP (concept) 1 — Myers-Briggs personality type used as basis for sexual attraction

Balloonfest '86 (concept) 1 — A 1986 fundraising publicity stunt involving 1.5 million helium balloons that became an environmental disaster and spawn...

OKC Bomb (concept) 1 — The Oklahoma City bombing, referenced as the last time a US citizen stood up to government or wealthy people nearly 30 y...

Camp culture (concept) 1 — A queer aesthetic and cultural sensibility discussed as being gentrified by hipsters alongside childfree culture

Ava Gardner (person) 1 — Classic Hollywood actress the poster tried to convince themselves they were attracted to during their 1950s phase

French Riviera (place) 1 — A luxury coastal region mentioned as part of a woman's delusional fantasy about becoming a rich old woman living there.

Jimmy Johnson (person) 1 — An NFL figure mentioned as being stunned by Bill Belichick's Hall of Fame snub.