The media and commentariat class are claiming that the WallStreetBets traders buying GameStop and other stocks are alt right incels who support GamerGate.
Small traders, and users of the Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets, have managed to execute a short squeeze on GameStop stocks, costing hedge funds and Wall Street investors billions of dollars as a result. As National File reported:
The stock was bought en masse, with GameStop ending up as the most traded equity on the planet on Tuesday, beating out Apple, Tesla, and Microsoft. As a result, the price skyrocketed by hundreds of percent, and one of the hedge funds, Melvin Capital Management, had to be bailed out for $2.75 billion…
Understandably, many on Wall Street and in the traditional financial media were very upset with the action taken on the GameStop stocks, comparing it to “cheering on hackers” defacing websites. NASDAQ’s Adena Friedman even claimed that they would halt trading on certain stocks if they match “social media chatter” with “unusual” stock activity, and a number of trading exchanges banned trades on GameStop and other stocks.
As the news unfolded, the media upped its smears of anyone who invested in GameStop. Despite it being clear that the trading was supported by people from all across the political spectrum, including AOC, Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr, and more, the media insinuated that the WallStreetBets subreddit was full of members of the alt right, incels, GamerGate supporters, or just backers of President Trump.
The Financial Times declared that “Reddit bros – some of whom were alt-right,” were profiting off the GamerGate stocks. The official WallStreetBets mod Twitter account posted the article, slamming it as being “lazy” journalism “trying to slur the WSB name.” The Financial Times was eventually forced to retract the “speculative” and “unfounded slur.”
Thanks @FT for redacting your unfounded alt-right slur of WSB.
But don't you think it would have been better to not publish it in the first place?
**kisses** pic.twitter.com/KdUg87lvUz
— wallstreetbets (@wsbmod) January 28, 2021
Ali Breland, a reporter from Mother Jones, tweeted that “Nazis” in Telegram channels were also trading GameStop and AMC stock.
In response, Nathanial Weixel implied that there was an “overlap” between the users of WallStreetBets, the alleged “Nazis,” and the Capitol Hill protestors from earlier this month.
what is your sense of the overlap between the r/WSB people and the nazis on telegram and elsewhere who stormed the capitol
— Nathaniel Weixel (@NateWeixel) January 27, 2021
In a tweet summing up the day’s stories, Bloomberg claimed that “a stock market insurrection continues.” The term “insurrection” has been used recently to refer to the protests at Capitol Hill.
A stock market insurrection continues, the EU has a falling-out with AstraZeneca and U.S. tech titans disappoint https://t.co/KbBpVizMJY
— Bloomberg (@business) January 28, 2021
Professor Scott Galloway of the University of California claimed that the drive to take down the hedgefunds by WallStreetBets was down to “young men not having (enough) sex,” saying that “young men, in a basement… with a [Robin Hood] account, a phone, and stimulus, and you have the perfect storm of volatility.”
Galloway also implied that the chance of going to war is likely to escalate at the same time.
Wall Street Bankers and Elites are so mad to the point where they are virtually calling ordinary people incels for simply doing what they do on a daily basis… pic.twitter.com/3YRqamlXxF
— Red Eagle Politics (@RedEaglePatriot) January 28, 2021
In response, Emrazz, a large feminist account, claimed that the “unf**kables” who Galloway was referring to “are the same guys who ran GamerGate,” the campaign for ethics in videogames journalism from six years ago.
“Both started on Reddit amongst incel types who decided to make a collaborative effort to f**k with people more or less just because,” she added.
Fuck an unfuckable asshole or his bad behavior is your fault is not a new take but it’s decidedly worse when the unfuckables are the same guys who ran gamergate https://t.co/QVcJqB67Z8
— feminist next door (@emrazz) January 28, 2021
How to understand that both started on Reddit amongst incel types who decided to make a collaborative effort to fuck with people more or less just because.
— feminist next door (@emrazz) January 28, 2021
National File reported that incoming Senate Banking Chairman, Sherrod Brown, will hold a hearing on the “current state of the stock market,” as ordinary daytraders face off against hedgefunds in a massive short squeeze of GameStop stocks, netting Americans huge profits as shorters face losses of around $70 billion.
