Should We Fight Short-Sellers?

Harold Lutz: Who the hell are you?

Axel Foley: Uh, my name is Johnny Wish-Wishbone. Johnny Wishbone. And I am a psychic from the island of St. Croix. Yes, I am psychic from the island of St. Croix. And I read in the St. Croix Gazette that the Beverly Hills Police Department having some trouble figuring out crimes. So, what I did was come to Beverly Hills to help the police out. They tell me they don’t want my help, they don’t *need* my help, so I’m gonna go on my merry way. I’m a psychic! I am a psychic phenomenon. Watch this. I don’t know who you are, but watch this. Ummm… Your name is, ummmm, Lutz! Right? Chief Lutz. That’s your name. See? The name pop inside my head like that. And your name is, ummmmm, ummmmm…

Biddle: Biddle?

Axel Foley: Biddle! Yes, see? I- You- Two more seconds I would have said it myself. I don’t need no help from no one, because I’m Johnny Wishbone, psychic extraordinaire. And if you need me, just think “Johnny Wishbone” and I come running. Lutz and Biddle, it’s like Kibbles n’ Bits, but different.

I happened to catch the last hour of “Beverly Hills Cop 2” (BHC2) yesterday, and the suspension of disbelief that the movie requires reminds me of how people who are buying meme stocks also have to suspend their disbelief.

Suspension of disbelief means ignoring the silliness and even the implausibility of what’s happening in a movie or a stock. When you see Axel Foley pull a nail file out of his pocket and easily pick a lock to get into a Beverly Hills mansion, or when you see him and his pals shoot hundreds of rounds of bullets into a crowd without hitting any bystanders, you’re suspending your disbelief.

Similarly, when you see someone on Twitter post a picture of a man playing video games that causes a struggling video game retailer’s (GameStop (GME)) stock to go up 300% in the premarket, it feels like you’re watching BHC2 because you can hardly believe it’s happening in real life.