Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

Forever 21 (place) 3 — Fast fashion retailer referenced as F21, where aging millennials allegedly bought clothes ten years ago that they still ...

Ready Player One (book) 3 — Novel depicting a dystopian world replaced entirely by VR, cited as showing plausible future of disconnected human relat...

Donald Rumsfeld (person) 3 — Former U.S. Secretary of Defense whose death was announced in a post making a joke about Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explosion...

Juche (concept) 3 — North Korean political ideology referenced in connection with the Hammer family being treated as 'royalty in internal ex...

Affirmative action (concept) 3 — Policy discussed in context of Supreme Court decision and Reddit discourse, with criticism of comparisons to legacy admi...

Athens (place) 3 — Ancient Greek city-state credited with founding democracy and the republic, cited by Colombia's president as part of Col...

World War 2 (concept) 3 — Historical event reinterpreted by conspiracy theorists in a fraternity as a holy war with America fighting on the side o...

Rapeman (film) 3 — Japanese movie franchise from the early 1990s featuring a superhero comedy where the protagonist rapes women who disresp...

Kneecap (album) 3 — Irish hip-hop group who performed at Coachella and expressed support for Palestine, prompting biased American media cove...

EEAAO (film) 3 — Everything Everywhere All At Once, a film that was a cultural moment despite receiving criticism, with uncertain aging p...

Therapy Speak (concept) 3 — A modern conversational style characterized by psychological terminology that is criticized as shutting down genuine emo...

Buster Keaton (person) 3 — Physical comedian cited as an example of the highest form of art combining dance and masculine humor through unpretentio...

The Terminator (film) 3 — 1984 sci-fi film praised by Andrei Tarkovsky for pushing cinema's frontiers despite its brutality and low acting skills.

Southeast Asia (place) 3 — Region where a mountain was climbed that had Israeli 'Free the Hostages' stickers at the summit.

D-Day (concept) 3 — The Allied invasion of Normandy in WWII, referenced to argue that young people in past generations were capable of far g...

Banksy (person) 3 — Street artist cited as example of endemic European corniness that contradicts some of Europe's more respectable aestheti...

J.D. Salinger (person) 3 — Author whose unpublished books are the subject of frustration about why they are taking so long to be released despite b...

Job (person) 3 — Biblical figure referenced as comparison for experiencing devastating personal losses including marriage, parents, and c...

Hoobastank (album) 3 — Rock band referenced as what the subreddit's users were actually listening to in 2002 rather than DMX.

Yahya Sinwar (person) 3 — Hamas leader reported killed in Israeli military operation, with images circulating of his death.

Neil Patrick Harris (person) 3 — An actor criticized for being unconvincing as a straight ladies' man in How I Met Your Mother despite the role running f...

Napoleon Dynamite (film) 3 — A low-budget comedy praised for its excellent cinematography, absurd atmosphere with ambiguous time period setting, and ...

Effective Altruism (concept) 3 — A philosophical and social movement that uses evidence and reasoning to determine the most effective ways to benefit oth...

Seth Meyers (person) 3 — A TV host whose political commentary is consumed by reality TV-obsessed American roommates to inform their opinions.

David Goggins (person) 3 — Motivational figure known for "Who's gonna carry the boats" philosophy, used as example of grindset culture that true Ty...

Dario Argento (person) 3 — Italian giallo film director known for distinctive use of pastel lighting and architectural atmosphere.

Marquis de Sade (person) 3 — French libertine philosopher and writer discussed by Dworkin as articulating male sexual violence and exploitation of wo...

Gang of Four (concept) 3 — Chinese political faction during the Cultural Revolution featured in Adam Curtis's documentary, discussed by a Chinese c...

Tiananmen Square (place) 3 — A location in China referenced in memes that Redditors spam alongside Winnie the Pooh references, believing it 'legitima...

Qing dynasty (concept) 3 — Chinese imperial dynasty whose top-ranking zhuanguan officials had to memorize classics and compose poetry in classical ...

Finasteride (concept) 3 — A pharmaceutical drug used to prevent hair loss that inhibits DHT and has side effects including reduced sex drive and e...

Helicopter Parenting (concept) 3 — A parenting style involving excessive monitoring of children, now manifested through location tracking technology that h...

Bam Margera (person) 3 — A Z-list celebrity who made goo goo noises at an infant and pinched their cheeks while inebriated at a local sports bar.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (book) 3 — David Foster Wallace short story collection used as a metaphor for the experience of using the dating app Hinge.

Virginia Giuffre (person) 3 — Epstein victim who resigned herself to a life of abuse from a young age and received an out of court settlement

Hemingway (person) 3 — Author referenced as hypothetically becoming a masculinity grifter who exaggerated Iraq war experience

Adam (person) 3 — Biblical figure mentioned in Genesis discussion about gender dynamics and the concept of 'helpmate' as beneficial advers...

hikikomori (concept) 3 — Japanese phenomenon of social withdrawal mentioned in discussion of how cheap gig labor enables social atomization.

Janelle Monae (person) 3 — Musician discussed in a satirical post about misogynoir and biphobia in the culture industry, referred to as a 'queerbai...

Cenk Uygur (person) 3 — Progressive political commentator compared to Charlie Kirk as a left-wing equivalent with limited intellectual contribut...

Eli Keszler (person) 3 — Partner of Anna Khachiyan with whom she has children but does not live with, raising questions about their unconventiona...

Flint, Michigan (place) 3 — City in Michigan known for its water crisis involving lead contamination, referenced as an exception to the general avai...

Frank Grimes (person) 3 — Character from The Simpsons referenced as embodiment of resentment toward those who succeed without struggle, used to ex...

Taylor Sheridan (person) 3 — Screenwriter and director who transitioned from acclaimed films like Sicario to creating poorly-received television.

Florida State (place) 3 — University mentioned as capable of doing equally valuable research as Harvard, with researchers potentially happier ther...

Baby Reindeer (film) 3 — A TV series referenced for having a creator with a self-absorbed creative personality but to whom something interesting ...

The Clash (album) 3 — Band whose remastered London Calling album was purchased by a 16-year-old who was then mocked by a record store cashier ...

Midjourney (concept) 3 — AI image generation tool criticized for producing ugly prompt-generated content used in promotional materials by local b...

Yale Law School (place) 3 — Prestigious law school referenced as JD Vance's alma mater in discussion of his political understanding.

NIMBY (concept) 3 — The 'Not In My Back Yard' attitude discussed in relation to section 8 housing and multi-family housing creating neighbor...