Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

The Divided Self (book) 2 — Ronald Laing's work on ontological insecurity and the experience of feeling fundamentally wrong or disconnected from exi...

Maurice Ravel (person) 2 — French composer whose work is mentioned as a touchstone for highbrow artistic taste, though one character only knows him...

Betty White (person) 2 — Golden Age Hollywood actress who met her husband on the game show Password, appearing on various classic game shows.

Hugh Ferriss (person) 2 — Artist cited as major influence on cityscape drawings, known for architectural illustration

Francisco Mujica (person) 2 — Artist cited as major influence on cityscape drawings alongside Hugh Ferriss

Dennis Cooper (person) 2 — Author identified as part of the 'Dark Gay Sensibility' in literature and culture

First Wives Club (film) 2 — Later film mentioned for Diane Keaton's fantastic performance.

Alt Lit (concept) 2 — A literary movement associated with 2007 indie irony culture, characterized by blogspot-based bad nonsense philosophy.

The Realignment (concept) 2 — Podcast where Anna Khachiyan appeared and was pressed on her political claims about Trump and neoliberalism.

The Whispering Star (film) 2 — Japanese sci-fi film by Sion Sono about a delivery android traveling through the galaxy, filmed in the Fukushima Exclusi...

Sion Sono (person) 2 — Japanese auteur filmmaker known for LOVE EXPOSURE and TOKYO TRIBE, who directed The Whispering Star.

Amazon Prime (place) 2 — Amazon's subscription service, referenced sarcastically as providing future assisted living facilities in a dystopian co...

Alt-Right (concept) 2 — Far-right political movement that amplified Jordan Peterson's views during 2015-2017 surge

Hell or High Water (film) 2 — Acclaimed film written by Taylor Sheridan before his television career.

Event Horizon (film) 2 — Horror film used as metaphor for the disturbing nature of modern extreme pornography.

Bad Lieutenant (film) 2 — A film about redemption referenced in comparison to Mel Gibson's public rehabilitation through testifying against Harvey...

Huw Edwards (person) 2 — British TV presenter involved in a scandal regarding paying a teenage boy for nude pictures, mentioned alongside other U...

Felix Dzerzhinsky (person) 2 — Soviet political figure who died of a heart attack moments after delivering a two-hour speech condemning opposition memb...

Wallace Shawn (person) 2 — Actor who delivered a memorable quote in My Dinner With Andre about the shift from valuing art to valuing money with age...

Capital Vol. 1 (book) 2 — Karl Marx's work featuring Chapter 10 on the inhumane treatment of workers and extreme working hours, including the stor...

Koch brothers (person) 2 — Conservative billionaire political donors who dominated liberal discourse until Trump's rise.

Colin Kaepernick (person) 2 — NFL player who knelt during the national anthem as protest against police brutality, later criticized for becoming a cor...

Havana Syndrome (concept) 2 — Mysterious illness described by a senator as a 'directed energy attack,' noted as one of the few interesting news events...

Matrix (film) 2 — Referenced as a comparison point for Everything Everywhere All at Once, dismissively called 'soy matrix' by a critic.

Apollonian and Dionysian (concept) 2 — Nietzschean dichotomy applied to Anna Khachiyan (Apollonian: rational, ordered, clean) and Dasha Nekrasova (Dionysian: c...

The Basement Tapes (album) 2 — Bob Dylan album discussed by Knausgård as the moment where Dylan discovers how to live in the music, tossing out tunes w...

Anton LaVey (person) 2 — Author of The Satanic Bible, which bookstores keep behind the counter because transgressive people like to steal it.

The Satanic Bible (book) 2 — Book by Anton LaVey that bookstores keep behind the counter because transgressive people frequently steal it.

King Krule (person) 2 — Indie musician whose album Six Feet Beneath the Moon is cited as his most popular but middling work

Determinism (concept) 2 — Philosophical concept computer science majors confront when reducing human thought to mathematical formulas without tran...

Trayvon Martin (person) 2 — Key figure in the Black Lives Matter movement whose name should be recognized by those who lived through the era, contra...

Provocations (book) 2 — A book by Camille Paglia that contains her childhood photograph dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte

Cage the Elephant (album) 2 — Band criticized for playing at a third-tier basketball arena in Chicago, with seeing them described as lame

Family Feud (film) 2 — Game show discussed as potentially having racially divisive programming with predominantly white versus black family mat...

Mont Saint-Michel (place) 2 — Historic French monastery and castle referenced as an example of awe-inspiring medieval European architecture.

Helen Andrews (person) 2 — A writer and editor formerly at The American Conservative who argues that women entering the workplace in large numbers ...

Anita Sarkeesian (person) 2 — Media critic and feminist commentator known for her critiques of video games, still referenced by anti-feminist men onli...

No Platforming (concept) 2 — Left-wing strategy of denying platforms to controversial figures, critiqued as ineffective against wealthy individuals w...

Anderson Cooper (person) 2 — CNN journalist who called Capitol rioters 'unwashed losers' who eat at Olive Garden

Occam's Razor (concept) 2 — Philosophical principle explicitly rejected in favor of convoluted theories about autism spike

Stacey Abrams (person) 2 — A Democratic politician whose obesity is questioned by a user analyzing electoral implications of physical appearance.

Fuccboi (book) 2 — Novel by Columbia MFA graduate criticized for using what poster describes as a 'blaccent' and for being condescendingly ...

René Girard (person) 2 — Philosopher whose essay on eating disorders was mentioned by Anna Khachiyan as something she read because of the subredd...

Garmin (concept) 2 — GPS device manufacturer mentioned as alternative navigation solution for drivers without smartphones, with devices costi...

Martin Luther (person) 2 — Historical figure whose act of nailing theses is compared to how Midwestern girls posted Rupi Kaur poetry on Instagram.

Zootopia (film) 2 — Disney animated film mentioned in the context of gay furry pornographic content being watched at a party

Lume (concept) 2 — A deodorant brand known for unskippable vulgar YouTube advertisements featuring oversharing about bodily functions.

Virtue Signaling (concept) 2 — Concept discussed as a mischaracterization of genuine empathy by people who view caring for others as performative rathe...

The Power of Nightmares (film) 2 — An Adam Curtis documentary available on YouTube that presents complex historical events in a compelling but potentially ...

Nina Kraviz (person) 2 — Russian DJ and artist criticized for profiting from Black American music without giving back.