Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

HMS Thunder Child (concept) 1 — A ship from War of the Worlds that the author wants to see depicted destroying Martian spacecraft in an adaptation

BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) (concept) 1 — A payment service sarcastically mentioned for purchasing virtue signaling merchandise

Drew Magary (person) 1 — PMC journalist criticized for promoting Manichaean morality with absolutely good and bad people.

Megan Ganz (person) 1 — Television writer who publicly forgave Dan Harmon for his past behavior, cited as example of atonement.

Gwen Snyder (person) 1 — Left-wing activist criticized for allegedly causing harm to leftist movements.

James Talarico (person) 1 — Presbyterian minister and Texas state house member who was leading candidate for Democratic senate nomination before rac...

Manichaean (concept) 1 — Dualistic worldview dividing people into absolute good and evil categories, critiqued as approach of PMC journalism that...

Great English Vowel Shift (concept) 1 — Historic sound change in Middle English where pronunciation of all long vowels changed, resulting in modern English's ir...

Archaic Latin (concept) 1 — Early form of Latin that preserved Proto-Indo-European sounds and was later used in Classical literature for prestige de...

Classical Latin (concept) 1 — Later form of Latin that underwent sound changes from Archaic Latin but preserved archaic words in literary register.

Duenos vase (place) 1 — Ancient artifact with Archaic Latin inscription beginning with 'Duenos', demonstrating sound changes to Classical Latin.

Makaveli (album) 1 — Tupac album mentioned for its Tradcath aesthetic on the cover.

Land Back (concept) 1 — Indigenous rights movement compared to Confederate monuments as polarizing symbolic politics.

The Queen (person) 1 — Queen Elizabeth II, whose potential Christmas death is imagined as offering something for everyone.

Josef Stalin (person) 1 — Historical figure cited as an example of having a cool, dominant-sounding name.

RT (place) 1 — Russian state media outlet mentioned as source of videos showing violence in Kazakhstan.

PBS News (place) 1 — News organization mentioned as reporting on food shortages as a cause of unrest in Kazakhstan.

$15 minimum wage (concept) 1 — A policy proposal for raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, referenced in comparison to cancel culture priorities

Lucinda Williams (person) 1 — Country music artist praised for combination of directness, brutality, and psychological nuance

Webb Pierce (person) 1 — Country music artist mentioned alongside Lucinda Williams as an example of preferred country music

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (film) 1 — Lesbian film criticized as being essentially softcore pornography due to explicit sex scenes

A Room In Rome (film) 1 — Lesbian film criticized alongside Blue Is The Warmest Colour for excessive explicit sexual content

Fenway Park (place) 1 — Baseball stadium in Boston where a poster attended a Yankees Red Sox game with an ex-girlfriend

A Nightmare on Elm Street (film) 1 — Horror film referenced in relation to fear of falling asleep after sleep paralysis experience

Thinking Bout You (album) 1 — Frank Ocean song whose lyrics took on a 'new context' for the poster after Ocean came out as gay, leading to discomfort.

BAFTA (place) 1 — British film awards ceremony where Cate Blanchett gave a speech about Tár.

Medici (person) 1 — Ruling family of Florence for whom Machiavelli wrote The Prince to educate on proper governance.

Australian Aboriginal art (concept) 1 — Indigenous Australian artistic tradition observed to have similarities with Art Nouveau

Chelsea boots (concept) 1 — Fashion item criticized as outdated for millennial men in 2023

Backpage (place) 1 — Classified advertising website referenced in comparison to Instagram photos

It (film) 1 — Horror film mentioned in context of alleged viral marketing campaigns involving public freakouts

Jean-Michel Folon (person) 1 — Artist whose work is being shared on the subreddit

Bouillabaisse (concept) 1 — Traditional French fish stew attempted in summer cooking

Epstein Island (place) 1 — Jeffrey Epstein's private island discussed in the context of imagining an innocent guest unknowingly present during crim...

The People v. O.J. Simpson (film) 1 — TV show about the O.J. Simpson trial noted for changing details about prosecutor Marcia Clark's assault from Israel to I...

Sarah Paulson (person) 1 — Actress who played prosecutor Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson

Marcia Clark (person) 1 — Prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial whose biographical details were altered in the TV adaptation

Heat 2 (book) 1 — Book sequel to the film Heat that is being adapted into a movie, described as loved by the poster

Lakewood (place) 1 — City featured alongside Cleveland in a photo essay shot on film

Monk (film) 1 — American TV show about a severely mentally ill widower who solves murders while being constantly tormented, described as...

Vedic philosophies (concept) 1 — Ancient Indian philosophical traditions cited alongside Buddhism as offering ethical guidance centered on non-selfishnes...

Bodhisattva (concept) 1 — Buddhist concept of an enlightened being who delays their own final enlightenment to help others, used as an aspirationa...

James K. Polk (person) 1 — US President who, along with Trump, was one of only two presidents in history to serve without keeping a pet.

Andrew Johnson (person) 1 — US President sometimes cited as not having pets but actually kept mice as pets during his presidency.

Dr. Esther Hui (person) 1 — Person referenced in context of a medical malpractice case involving failure to treat an immigrant detainee's fatal peni...

9gag (place) 1 — Online platform with significant crossover with Reddit users who celebrated Queen and created rage comics.

Parasomnia (concept) 1 — Sleep disorder involving complex behaviors during sleep, including sleep walking, described in a post about a wife who m...

A Complete Unknown (film) 1 — Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet that was described as obviously atrocious and unbearable, with particular cr...

Assata Shakur (person) 1 — Revolutionary activist whose death is celebrated by a boomer uncle in the context of right-wing doomscrolling and radica...

Touching From a Distance (book) 1 — Biography of Ian Curtis that demystifies him while making Joy Division's story and his suicide more tragically human.