Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

2016 (concept) 111 — Year referenced as the end of a period when internet users went through their phase of discovering hidden truths about s...

Barack Obama (person) 109 — Referenced as an example of a rare, youngish, charismatic presidential candidate that the Democratic Party should not ta...

Hinge (place) 107 — Dating app mentioned in context of a Cyrano de Bergerac-style situation where the author helps their sister communicate ...

Jeffrey Epstein (person) 104 — Financier and convicted sex offender whose story and connections are discussed as a narrative subject, with references t...

Joe Biden (person) 102 — Presidential candidate and later president portrayed by media as primary competitor in 2020 race, and discussed separate...

Amazon (place) 100 — E-commerce platform criticized for selling dangerous counterfeit products like glass containers that shatter and injure ...

Spotify (place) 100 — Music streaming platform featured prominently in War of the Worlds (2025) as part of extensive product placement portray...

Bernie Sanders (person) 99 — Democratic candidate referenced as appealing to young men in 2016 and 2020 whose supporters were allegedly compared to b...

Ukraine (place) 98 — War-torn Eastern European country where a naive young British man decided to live temporarily because it was cheaper tha...

OnlyFans (concept) 94 — A subscription-based content platform discussed in the context of its dangers, particularly regarding stalking and haras...

Grindr (place) 89 — A dating app discussed as a platform where young gay men track their desirability and experience fleeting validation, co...

Texas (place) 88 — US state that requires businesses and nonprofits to sign a form promising not to boycott Israel before they can operate ...

Wokeness (concept) 86 — A term referring to progressive social and political awareness, particularly around identity issues, discussed in the co...

David Lynch (person) 84 — Filmmaker with decades of cinematic landmarks who was rejected by streaming services for post-Twin Peaks projects, discu...

2020 (concept) 83 — Year marking the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns that disrupted social and professional life.

Gaza (place) 83 — Palestinian territory that Israel announced plans to cut off food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity from while bomb...

Polyamory (concept) 83 — Relationship structure where a person maintains multiple romantic relationships, as described in an email about moving n...

Brooklyn (place) 82 — New York borough where an event at a rented bar required both proof of vaccination and negative COVID test, signaling po...

Hillary Clinton (person) 80 — Former presidential candidate discussed as being opposed to Bernie Sanders potentially exposing the Clintons' policy fai...

McDonald's (place) 80 — Fast food chain used as an example of businesses transitioning to minimalist aesthetic and losing cultural identity.

Joe Rogan (person) 79 — Podcast host whose Spotify controversy was part of news cycles that felt particularly fake and created brain rot in publ...

Russia (place) 79 — Country discussed as a potential language learning destination, noted for its rich literary and film tradition but criti...

Facebook (concept) 77 — Social media platform whose outage prompted reflection on technological dependence and E.M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops...

Australia (place) 76 — Country mentioned by a 23-year-old user as being shielded by geographic distance from American culture wars but facing i...

The Beatles (album) 73 — Iconic British rock band discussed as being unfairly dismissed as overrated when their innovative progression from 'Twis...

Japan (place) 73 — East Asian country discussed as maintaining ethnonationalist immigration policies and ethnic superiority attitudes that ...

Jordan Peterson (person) 72 — Psychologist with over 10,000 citations who works at a distinguished university despite discourse comparing him to schiz...

Wikipedia (place) 71 — Free online encyclopedia lauded as the internet's crowning achievement for its volunteer-maintained content and lack of ...

Succession (film) 70 — HBO television series about a media dynasty family, discussed in relation to the character Shiv and girlboss discourse.

Iran (place) 70 — Country that became the most sanctioned in history after Trump pulled out of the Iran deal in 2018, with sanctions descr...

San Francisco (place) 70 — City whose downtown area is criticized as soulless and oppressive, with security forces removing people from corporate p...

Paris (place) 69 — Described as one of the most RS (Red Scare) cities in the west for not making accommodations for overweight people, with...

Seattle (place) 69 — A city in Washington state characterized in the post as having passive-aggressive and difficult residents, particularly ...

Tumblr (place) 68 — Social media platform mentioned alongside Twitter and Instagram as places where the poster was once a popular artist.

Peru (place) 68 — A Latin American country where JollyWumper lived and conducted his dating experiments, compared unfavorably to the Unite...

Slavoj Žižek (person) 66 — Referenced as an example of someone who has interesting anecdotes and jokes for every occasion, used as a model for beco...

Italy (place) 65 — Country discussed in context of its left-wing politics being taken over by incompetent 'theater kids' and millennial pol...

France (place) 65 — Country that inspires aspirations of living there through literature, referenced as a place where even miserable writers...

Adam Friedland (person) 64 — A podcast host criticized by his former Cumtown co-hosts for constantly trying out new identities and being disingenuous...

California (place) 63 — U.S. state described as one of the best places to live on earth in terms of quality of life and weather, with discussion...

Mad Men (film) 63 — Television series whose portrayal of Joan's experience with sexual exploitation prompted reflection on how women's beaut...

LinkedIn (place) 62 — Professional networking platform criticized for being soulless, filled with AI-generated content and performative corpor...

Andrew Tate (person) 62 — Controversial influencer and masculinity figure contrasted with Andrea Dworkin in a hypothetical reality TV concept pair...

BLM (concept) 60 — Referenced in discussion of 2020 woke scold culture with local influencers getting called out for not posting support.

Star Wars (film) 59 — Science fiction franchise referenced in discussion about female fans engaging with deep lore beyond mainstream content.

Toronto (place) 59 — Canadian city described as an 'insane asylum' filled with homeless people, noise, and cultural disconnection that makes ...

Sweden (place) 57 — Scandinavian country mentioned in satirical academic study title about dialectics of empire among Swedish school childre...

New York Times (place) 56 — Newspaper whose advice column featured a woman afraid to tell her Native American husband to clean his bathroom due to c...

Barbie (film) 54 — A 2023 film that became part of the 'Barbieheimer' cultural phenomenon, with audiences dressing up and treating theatric...

Letterboxd (place) 54 — Film review and tracking app praised for not being enshittified but criticized for user base dominated by tumblr-style r...