Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

LA (place) 2 — Expensive area mentioned alongside Brooklyn as home to high-achieving creative professionals.

Bing Crosby (person) 2 — Classic American singer referenced for his Christmas music, particularly 'Winter Wonderland'

21 Savage (person) 2 — Mainstream rapper who was a dominant artist in 2016 and remained a top figure through 2025 despite being past his prime

Paul Bettany (person) 2 — Actor whose scene in Margin Call is discussed as being misinterpreted as defending the financial industry

Friedrich Kunath (person) 2 — Contemporary artist whose melancholic and introspective works are shared on the subreddit.

Tomboy (film) 2 — Gender presentation discussed as formerly existing but heavily bullied, with people now nostalgic for what they didn't t...

Y tu Mamá También (film) 2 — Emotionally powerful Mexican film praised for its storytelling that becomes more affecting on repeat viewings.

Metro Boomin (person) 2 — Hip hop producer whose recent collaborative album with Future is cited as example of lack of musical progression in the ...

NYC Drill (concept) 2 — Contemporary rap movement characterized by focus on sex and murder rather than drug dealing, theorized to reflect black ...

Aphantasia (concept) 2 — Condition where people claim they cannot picture anything in their mind's eye, criticized as a fake disorder that many p...

Real ID (concept) 2 — A federal identification requirement criticized for infringing on constitutional rights, creating monetary barriers to g...

Okinawa (place) 2 — Japanese prefecture where AI-generated music about potatoes was heard playing at a farmers market, representing a dystop...

Daddy Yankee (person) 2 — Reggaeton artist whose music Latinos blast year-round regardless of season or time of day, representing their unwavering...

Woodstock 99 (concept) 2 — Music festival documentary that featured a NYT editor claiming white people singing along with DMX's lyrics was racist.

Norman Fucking Rockwell! (album) 2 — Lana Del Rey album referenced by user expressing desire for human connection beyond superficiality

Fyre Festival (concept) 2 — Infamous failed luxury music festival whose organizer is predicted to be considered a villain of this era.

HGTV (film) 2 — Home and lifestyle cable network blamed for popularizing bland modern home renovation trends.

Property Brothers (film) 2 — TV show featuring twin hosts that a poster finds boring and overrated despite people being charmed by the fact they're t...

Cats (film) 2 — A film criticized for lacking violence, according to one person's bizarre interpretation.

Rotten.com (place) 2 — Legendary shock site whose library has been archived and mirrored by Gwern.

Years of Lead (concept) 2 — Period of socio-political turmoil and violence in Italy, referenced as an analogy people incorrectly make about contempo...

Sami Timimi (person) 2 — British psychiatrist who critiques psychiatric diagnoses as merely labels for clusters of behaviors rather than identifi...

Searching for Normal (book) 2 — Book by psychiatrist Sami Timimi critiquing psychiatric diagnoses and medicalization in psychiatry.

Michael Knowles (person) 2 — Conservative commentator discussed as an example of 'intellectual MAGA' who defends Trump despite being rhetorically sha...

Kyle Kulinski (person) 2 — Political commentator mentioned in the context of debating Michael Knowles on Piers Morgan's show.

Zepbound (concept) 2 — Weight loss drug that comedian Stavros Halkias allegedly gained weight while taking, discussed in relation to an adverti...

Eli Lilly (place) 2 — Pharmaceutical company that manufactures Zepbound, mentioned in relation to Stavros Halkias gaining weight while on thei...

Trintellix (concept) 2 — Antidepressant medication discussed critically in relation to sexual side effects and questionable clinical efficacy com...

HIPAA (concept) 2 — Healthcare privacy rules that were violated when a CVS pharmacy technician used customer records to get someone's phone ...

Atomized (book) 2 — Novel by Michel Houellebecq criticized for unengaging characters and predictable critique of individualism

TraumaZone (film) 2 — A 2022 Adam Curtis documentary using archival footage to chronicle the collapse of the USSR through mundane and dramatic...

old.reddit.com (place) 2 — Legacy version of Reddit interface referenced in discussion of the site's poor design and multiple competing layouts

University of California (place) 2 — A university system criticized for returning to online-only classes during the pandemic, causing isolation and depressio...

Gildan (concept) 2 — A brand of pocket t-shirts praised for having structure and roughness rather than being overly soft

Stroszek (film) 2 — A film listed as a personal favorite in a discussion of top 5 favorite movies.

McCabe and Mrs Miller (film) 2 — A film listed as a personal favorite in a discussion of top 5 favorite movies.

The Godfather 2 (film) 2 — A film listed as a personal favorite in a discussion of top 5 favorite movies.

The Merchant of Four Seasons (film) 2 — A film listed as a personal favorite in a discussion of top 5 favorite movies.

Lilith (person) 2 — A figure from mythology to whom someone dedicated a tattoo as an act of servitude in the context of witch/pagan spiritua...

machine girl (album) 2 — Breakcore/experimental music artist known for the album WLFGRL that is widely promoted online

The Matrix Resurrections (film) 2 — A Matrix reboot film discussed through a satirical alternate plot where Neo discovers everyone already knows about the M...

50 First Dates (film) 2 — A romantic comedy mentioned as an early example of the genre that the poster enjoyed.

The Avengers (film) 2 — Marvel film where Clark Gregg became the biggest supporting character after playing a minor role

Andrew Jackson (person) 2 — President who opposed proto-Confederates in the Nullification Crisis and threatened to invade South Carolina and behead ...

Euchre (concept) 2 — Regional trick-taking card game popular in Indiana and Michigan, described as a 2v2 game using half a deck similar to a ...

4AD (place) 2 — An independent record label that previously worked with Grimes before she aligned with tech elite culture.

Abu Dhabi (place) 2 — Middle Eastern city where anonymous wealthy buyers purchased the T. Rex fossil 'Stan' to display.

Mark Rothko (person) 2 — Abstract expressionist painter whose works are referenced in a dismissive comment about people claiming spiritual experi...

Stop Asian Hate (concept) 2 — Described as the last moment of left identity politics unity before its collapse, endorsed even by conservatives questio...

Alice Glass (person) 2 — 34-year-old frontwoman of Crystal Castles, used as an example of aging millennial cultural figures.