Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

Auschwitz-Birkenau (place) 1 — Nazi concentration and extermination camp discussed critically in terms of how social media culture has turned it into a...

Letitia Wright (person) 1 — Actress from Black Panther described as more stunning than Zendaya but receiving less recognition.

Essential oils (concept) 1 — Alternative medicine products satirically referenced as what mothers in online forums suggest using to treat serious inj...

Amélie (film) 1 — French film referenced in connection with actor Jamel Debbouze, who played the young greengrocer in it

Jamel Debbouze (person) 1 — French actor known for playing the young greengrocer in Amélie, who filmed a video of a biologist catching a catfish in ...

Victimhood (concept) 1 — Concept discussed as Israel's core justification and as parallel to progressive identity politics narratives

Nighthawks (film) 1 — Painting by Edward Hopper critiqued for its architectural impossibility, with commentary on its themes of urban alienati...

Sertraline (concept) 1 — SSRI antidepressant medication criticized as being overprescribed for normal emotional distress

Anas al-Sharif (person) 1 — Palestinian journalist whose assassination was cited as example of Reuters' pro-Israel bias in headline framing

Anti-Semitism (concept) 1 — Hatred of Jewish people, explicitly condemned alongside condemnation of violence against Palestinians

Ethnic Nationalism (concept) 1 — Political ideology based on ethnicity, cited as reason for opposition to Zionism

Synecdoche (film) 1 — Film featuring a memorable performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Damar Hamlin (person) 1 — Buffalo Bills NFL player who suffered a medical emergency on the field in 2023.

Buffalo Bills (place) 1 — NFL football team whose player Damar Hamlin suffered a medical emergency during a game.

r/tacobell (place) 1 — Fast food subreddit community where people discuss Taco Bell meals and promotions, often daily visitors maximizing budge...

Tenderqueer (concept) 1 — Pejorative term for a type of LGBT person characterized by weaponized therapy talk, twee aesthetics, strategic incompete...

Neoliberal subject (concept) 1 — A political-economic concept exemplified by the 'tenderqueer' personality type that combines worst masculine and feminin...

Donald Judd (person) 1 — Minimalist artist whose collected essays represented intellectual engagement with New York's cultural history from the 1...

Robert Ryman (person) 1 — Artist whose biography represents the intellectual cultural engagement with New York's art scene in the mid-20th century

Robert Rauschenberg (person) 1 — Artist who exhibited with Jasper Johns in the 1970s, representing authentic queer art in contrast to contemporary shallo...

Jasper Johns (person) 1 — Artist who exhibited with Robert Rauschenberg in the 1970s, exemplifying serious queer art versus contemporary performat...

Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (place) 1 — New York institution where Jacques Derrida gave impromptu lectures in the late 1970s, representing NYC's former intellec...

Guggenheim (place) 1 — New York museum where contemporary cultural events like the World Around Symposium feature land acknowledgements and sha...

Rebecca West (person) 1 — Writer and cultural critic compared to Anna Khachiyan as representing great female cultural criticism

Mary McCarthy (person) 1 — Writer and cultural critic compared to Anna Khachiyan as exemplifying great female cultural criticism

Greg Plitt (person) 1 — Fitness model referenced as the physical ideal that people unrealistically compare their dating prospects to

Nicole Scherzinger (person) 1 — Performer who had a meltdown during a Colbert taping after messing up a song from her Broadway play

DARPA (place) 1 — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, referenced as the creator of internet technology described as textbook brainw...

Huckleberry Finn (book) 1 — Mark Twain novel referenced as inspiration for Grimes' houseboat adventure on the Mississippi

PlayStation 3 (concept) 1 — Gaming console cited as part of the technology defining the 2007-2011 era.

Totalitarian capitalism (concept) 1 — Concept described as 'a poisonous gas that expands to fill all available space' in reference to public parks with entran...

Liberal feminism (concept) 1 — Feminist ideology critiqued as allowing people to say yes to anything but not allowing them to say no, in context of gen...

ASI (concept) 1 — Artificial Superintelligence referenced in argument that Chinese citizens would benefit more from it than Americans unde...

La Brea (place) 1 — Los Angeles street mentioned as location of high-end vintage couture store where Kanye West was encountered shopping

The Rosenbergs (person) 1 — Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed for espionage, referenced in comparison to Trump allegedly possessing nuclear secre...

Sebastian Bear-McClard (person) 1 — Film director and Emily Ratajkowski's ex-husband, described as a shadowy figure who worked with the Safdie Brothers and ...

Bastogne (place) 1 — A WWII battle site referenced sarcastically to compare the poster's mundane Afghanistan experience to historic warfare.

Marshall's (place) 1 — Retail store referenced in context of mundane fatal car accidents.

Miscegenation (concept) 1 — Historical term for interracial relationships that is seeing renewed use in online discourse opposing such relationships

Teens React (film) 1 — YouTube series criticized for its participants becoming drug addicts or OnlyFans actresses, compared to Disney child exp...

Leo Strauss (person) 1 — Philosopher who identified 'probity' as an intellectual pseudo-virtue where accepting the worst explanations is seen as ...

Probity (concept) 1 — Intellectual pseudo-virtue identified by Leo Strauss where holding the worst/most terrible explanations is considered tr...

SUNO (place) 1 — AI music generation platform criticized for producing soulless content

Dead Can Dance (album) 1 — Musical group referenced in discussion of early 2000s Dior advertising aesthetics

Gemini (place) 1 — Google's AI platform criticized for allegedly training on users' Google Drive files to create more realistic images

Equity Grading (concept) 1 — Educational policy criticized as part of the worst left-wing practices contributing to the U.S. education crisis

Social Promotion (concept) 1 — Educational practice of advancing students regardless of achievement, criticized as contributing to education crisis

Balanced Literacy (concept) 1 — Reading instruction method criticized in favor of phonics as part of broader education system failures

Dolly (sheep) (concept) 1 — The first cloned mammal, created in 1996, referenced in a discussion about whether human cloning has been secretly perfo...

T2 (film) 1 — Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the 1991 sequel claimed to be inferior to the original Terminator in a user's controversial ...