Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

IEP (concept) 2 — Individualized Education Program for students with disabilities, associated with resource room combining special needs s...

ShitRedditSays (place) 2 — A Reddit community from around 2010 that was initially clowned for opinions that are now considered standard Reddit view...

HAES (Health At Every Size) (concept) 2 — A now-defunct movement within fat acceptance culture that promoted the idea that health is possible at any size, describ...

Fat Acceptance (concept) 2 — A social movement that the author describes as now dead, where people defended being overweight and cut off those critic...

Raygun (person) 2 — Australian Olympic breakdancer whose postmodernist humanities thesis on deterritorializing gender in Sydney's breakdanci...

NOFX (album) 2 — Punk band whose frontman Fat Mike allegedly got the author kicked off YouTube for a parody video involving a fabricated ...

Boston University (place) 2 — University where Ibram X. Kendi's Center for Antiracist Research is located, subject to rumors about mismanagement and s...

Iron Maiden (album) 2 — Metal band referenced as an example of the kind of exclusive listening habits that poptimists supposedly argue against.

Green Bay (place) 2 — Wisconsin city, home of an earnest alcoholic welder the author met on a flight who was transporting his mother's ashes.

Donna Summer (person) 2 — A disco icon and vocalist referenced as one of the true divas in American music history.

David Crosby (person) 2 — Musician and member of 1960s counterculture who gave a controversial guest lecture at a university during the Trump pres...

Akihabara (place) 2 — Tokyo district known for anime and electronics shops, referenced as a stereotype of what Japan offers.

Greenwich (place) 2 — Wealthy Connecticut town where New Yorker writer Evan Osnos grew up, emblematic of his privileged background.

Kevin Hart (person) 2 — Comedian appearing in gambling advertisements criticized as predatory and degenerate.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (concept) 2 — Smartphone model notorious for battery explosions, referenced in a joke about Donald Rumsfeld's death.

San Francisco 49ers (concept) 2 — NFL team whose loss at the Super Bowl was watched by an 18-year-old who subsequently had an emotional breakdown on TikTo...

Secret Service (concept) 2 — Presidential protection agency that provided security for Barbara Bush and gave perks to her boyfriend, including allowi...

Miranda (person) 2 — Character from Sex and the City who is the most professionally successful but whose love life is doomed by her career am...

Carrie (person) 2 — Protagonist of Sex and the City who is clumsy, self-absorbed, and suffers from neuroses, with unhealthy relationships th...

Jasmine Crockett (person) 2 — Democratic politician who entered the Texas senate race after her seat was gerrymandered, creating racial tensions in th...

Tea Party Movement (concept) 2 — Conservative political movement that pushed back against universal healthcare, cited as evidence that Republicans are no...

Inuit (concept) 2 — Indigenous communities in Canada who created their own television programming in the 1970s to preserve their language ag...

Matteo Salvini (person) 2 — Italy's vice prime minister and leader of a secessionist-turned-right-wing party, described as a fat political failure w...

Refinery29 (place) 2 — Media publication targeted at young white women characterized by intense progressive self-flagellation and identity poli...

Land Acknowledgment (concept) 2 — A practice of acknowledging Indigenous peoples' traditional territories, satirized by a user who claims to have been cri...

Naomi Campbell (person) 2 — Supermodel invoked as an example of groundbreaking performer that drag queens wrongly compare themselves to

Kellogg's (place) 2 — Major food corporation accused of influencing federal nutrition experts to provide unhealthy breakfast foods to poor sch...

Hippie Movement (concept) 2 — 1960s counterculture praised for actually curtailing consumer capitalism, living in communes, promoting vegetarianism, a...

Brain Drain (concept) 2 — The emigration of highly skilled or educated individuals from developing countries to developed nations, discussed as a ...

bodybuilding.com (place) 2 — Bodybuilding forum website that originated the meme copypasta 'Awesome pics. Great size. Look thick. Solid. Tight.' from...

Roger Corman (person) 2 — Film director who made The Intruder (1962), described as the best directing in his entire career.

To Kill a Mockingbird (film) 2 — A 1962 film about racism and morality, released the same year as The Intruder but covering similar themes in a less dark...

Annihilation (film) 2 — A film referenced for its depiction of biological lifeforms being weirdly melded and fused, used as a metaphor for produ...

Pokémon Go (concept) 2 — A mobile augmented reality game used as motivation for morning exercise and outdoor activity.

Avengers (film) 2 — Marvel superhero film franchise referenced when a coworker admitted to crying during a scene, leading to permanent negat...

Michelin (concept) 2 — Prestigious restaurant rating system that recently recognized a restaurant in the American South where the poster works.

Falkland Islands (place) 2 — Disputed territory between Argentina and Britain, known as Islas Malvinas in Spanish, that provokes intense nationalist ...

ODD (concept) 2 — Oppositional Defiant Disorder, referenced satirically in mom forums context as something mothers rush to diagnose in the...

FMLA (concept) 2 — Federal law protecting maternity leave that doesn't apply to companies with less than 50 employees, discussed in context...

Richard Russell (person) 2 — Figure referenced in discussion of men who abandoned society to pursue radical freedom, ultimately ending badly.

Texas State University (place) 2 — University formerly known as San Marcos Teachers College where LBJ created his political organization The White Stars

Rural Electrification Act (concept) 2 — New Deal program that LBJ used to bring electricity to his district as a young Congressman

Muslim Brotherhood (concept) 2 — Islamic political organization referenced in context of wealthy Egyptian families with business interests in sub-Saharan...

Jaffa (place) 2 — A mixed-religion city in Israel frequently visited by the author and where some of their mother's students were from

Liver King (person) 2 — Social media personality arrested in Texas for violence after issuing a challenge to Joe Rogan, used as example of Texas...

MLM (concept) 2 — Multi-level marketing schemes that the poster has never been asked to join, contributing to their sense of living in a b...

FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) (concept) 2 — A financial movement focused on extreme saving and investing to retire early, discussed in its 'fat' variant involving l...

Russian Revolution (concept) 2 — Historical event when the working class overthrew their oppressors, discussed as feeling surreal and distant from contem...

Chinese Civil War (concept) 2 — Historical revolutionary conflict discussed alongside the Russian Revolution as a moment when working classes successful...

Snow Patrol (album) 2 — Band cited as example of inoffensive 2000s pop music now replaced by deliberately annoying reggaeton