Shorting is really not that straightforward. It is a avery advanced topic because it mandates the use of leverage. Many (most) investors are long-only, especially the ones being taken advantage of here.

> especially the ones being taken advantage of here.

This is a great argument why buying an index is a poor choice for a long term investor. You can avoid a great deal of shenanigans by randomly purchasing stocks and holding them for 50 years. Even a 0.02% annual fee costs you 1% of your long term returns over that timescale.

But there’s tradeoffs to everything.

https://www.proshares.com/our-etfs/leveraged-and-inverse/psq

This is not financial advise.