Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

Pandora's Box (concept) 2 — Greek mythological concept invoked as metaphor for unstoppable technological advancement and its consequences.

Celsius (concept) 2 — Energy drink brand mentioned as being advertised at gas stations with intrusive video ads.

Bed-Stuy (place) 2 — Brooklyn neighborhood (Bedford-Stuyvesant) referenced as location where poster lived and experienced gun violence nearby...

Team America (film) 2 — Film by Michael Moore referenced as an example of anti-war pop culture that Israel lacks an equivalent to.

Among Us (film) 2 — Mobile game played by zoomers at a party, mentioned as an example of bleak modern social interaction.

Ambien (concept) 2 — Sleep medication that Roseanne Barr claimed reduces inhibitions and can lead to racist behavior, which was disputed by m...

Dating Apps (concept) 2 — Technology discussed as distorting the sexual marketplace and contributing to relationship difficulties and choice paral...

Google Street View (concept) 2 — Google feature that allows users to view historical images of locations dating back to 2008, described as magical for re...

Keto Diet (concept) 2 — Low-carb diet satirized for extreme American interpretations involving consuming thousands of calories of cheese and cre...

Liz Lemon (person) 2 — Character from 30 Rock discussed as the ideal girlfriend type that women allegedly don't understand men want.

Dunkin' Donuts (place) 2 — Fast food chain mentioned as a benchmark for how difficult the job market has become when even they are not hiring.

Kathy Bates (person) 2 — Actress who starred in the film Misery, mentioned as part of a refreshingly simple thriller.

r/raisedbynarcissists (place) 2 — Reddit subreddit discussed critically as a place where teenagers misappropriate psychological terminology to characteriz...

Krakow (place) 2 — City mentioned as one of the places that doesn't feel like home to the drifter poster

Softness of Bodies (film) 2 — Film featuring Dasha Nekrasova, mentioned as part of her creative work that wouldn't exist if she had committed suicide

Pokemon Go (film) 2 — A phenomenon in 2016 where people of various ages gathered in parks at 1 am to battle Pokemon.

Belize (place) 2 — A Central American country mentioned as a hypothetical escape destination for a finance worker contemplating crime.

Just Kids (book) 2 — Patti Smith's memoir that represents the romanticized version of New York cultural history, compared to Donald Judd essa...

Chris Hayes (person) 2 — MSNBC host who appeared as a guest on Colbert's show, described with thin lips and a perfectly circular face

Mount Athos (place) 2 — An Orthodox Christian monastic community in Greece, referenced as a refuge from internet culture and modern society

Junya Watanabe (person) 2 — Japanese fashion designer referenced when Kanye West quotes his own lyrics about Junya Watanabe during an encounter in a...

Lumpenproletariat (concept) 2 — Marxist concept referenced critically as demographic leftists appeal to instead of working families in discussion of fem...

Godfather (film) 2 — Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 crime film, mentioned as being better than its sequel The Godfather Part II.

Andre 3000 (person) 2 — Hip-hop artist and half of OutKast, compared to his partner Big Boi in a user's controversial musical opinion.

J.G. Ballard (person) 2 — British novelist whose grave rubbing from England is mentioned as a teaching aid shared between two writer-teachers teac...

magical realism (concept) 2 — Literary genre that fans fear will be reduced to a 'trope' and misunderstood as a 'soft magic system' by mainstream Netf...

Battle Royale (film) 2 — A film by Kinji Fukasaku that the poster avoids mentioning on first dates because women are grossed out when men like Ja...

Killing Commendatore (book) 2 — Novel by Haruki Murakami that the poster recently read but wonders if mentioning would trigger women's aversion to Japan...

Marfan syndrome (concept) 2 — Genetic disorder referenced by a poster who feels it throws off body proportions and facial features despite staying in ...

Blue Jays (concept) 2 — Baseball team recommended as entertaining baseball to watch instead of the Savannah Bananas

Magic Mike (film) 2 — Stripper film referenced as having more honor than the Savannah Bananas because at least it had a storyline and wasn't a...

Nick Kroll (person) 2 — Actor mentioned as appearing in Don't Worry Darling alongside other attractive people in an idyllic community setting.

Hugh Jackman (person) 2 — Actor criticized for being treated as a draw in a Deadpool movie despite having already appeared in ten similar movies o...

Planet of the Apes (film) 2 — Film franchise whose latest sequel is described as looking like 'Andrei Rublev or something' compared to other contempor...

The Holdovers (film) 2 — Film that the poster was watching when they had to sit through disappointing blockbuster trailers.

Impressionism (concept) 2 — Art movement criticized as 'basic bitch' when posted to the subreddit in 2024, contrasted with the cooler, more unique a...

Rick & Morty (film) 2 — Animated TV show referenced as representative of pretentious anti-intellectualism appealing to elder millennials.

Evangelical Christianity (concept) 2 — Religious movement discussed in conspiracy theory about churches using attractive men to recruit young women while exclu...

Elton John (person) 2 — Commercially successful musician argued to be underrated as a critical artist despite his massive pop success and genius...

Super Smash Bros (concept) 2 — Fighting game referenced through the 'Smash player phenotype' to describe a stereotypical awkward Black nerd

Nayib Bukele (person) 2 — President of El Salvador who locked up approximately 1.7% of the population, massively reduced crime, and established au...

Ibiza (place) 2 — Spanish island discussed in a debate about pronunciation, with the poster arguing it should be pronounced with a Z sound...

r/CanadaHousing2 (place) 2 — A Canadian subreddit that has apparently become a venue for xenophobic discussions about Punjabi immigrants.

Erich Fromm (person) 2 — Author mentioned in discussion about dream interpretation and symbolic language.

Todd McGowan (person) 2 — Theorist working in the Lacanian and Hegelian tradition, associated with Žižek but noted as a clearer writer, author of ...

Eckhart Tolle (person) 2 — Spiritual teacher and author on consciousness referenced as one of the thinkers someone tried to help with anxiety

Agoraphobia (concept) 2 — Anxiety disorder characterized by fear of places and situations, mentioned by user who has moderate to severe agoraphobi...

Battle of Stalingrad (concept) 2 — Considered by most historians to be the greatest battle of WWII that stopped German advance into the Soviet Union and ma...

Louis Farrakhan (person) 2 — A controversial figure referenced in Jay Electronica's verse on Noname's album with the line 'If anybody asks, tell 'em ...

Zbigniew Brzezinski (person) 2 — Political strategist whose nightmare scenario of a geopolitical axis between China, Russia, and Iran is referenced as be...