I think both sides are doing the same thing and pointing fingers at each other. That's my point. Market manipulation is just that, whether it's done by a privileged class on their iPhone 11s (i.e. the Reddit mob) or Hedge fund managers.

A privileged mob on reddit armed with Macbook pros does not equal the people sticking it to the man.

Reddit itself is part of the oligarchy everyone is railing against.

I don’t think you answered my question. I don’t disagree it’s market manipulation, and I agree no one is “sticking it to the man” here (though I’m always happy to see hedge funds lose 20 billion).

What I’m asking is why market manipulation is a bad thing, as long as it’s happening out in the open and everyone trading GME knows it’s a manipulated stock.

The same way a coup can be immoral and wrong even if you lie upfront about it. It's abusive and destructive.