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Weekly transmissions from Adbusters, the journal of the mental environment

Occupy 2.0?
That's Yet to Come

The GameStop phenomenon is a repudiation of Wall Street. But it isn't a rejection of the underhanded capitalism that delivered the financial crisis.

As has come to light, the self-styled degenerates of r/WallStreetBets delivered a deserving blow to some high-rolling hedge funds. But only by investing (admittedly, in a mischievous and spiteful way) in the stock market — which is to say, by playing into the very system that screwed them in the first place.

Many are liable to get hurt financially. Robinhood, the platform apparently used by nearly all WSB's adherents, has not always been kind to its amateur investors. And GameStop is, after all, basically the Blockbuster of video-game retail — not necessarily the soundest investment for folks who can't afford to gamble away their savings.

Further, even if crippling regulations aren't immediately instituted, it's not unfathomable that Wall-Street firms should soon start to hire meme-savvy analysts to anticipate, or even exploit, similar stock-market frenzies — deflating any revolutionary energy they may have to begin with.

Meanwhile, many normal people, swept up in the excitement, may well lose rather than win their bets. The likes of Melvin Capital are still in business, and appear set to remain so. A win for the 99% — or the 1%?

Until substantial measures are taken to remedy the inequality and injustice inherent to the financial system, things will remain much as they are — Robin-Hood redditors or no. What's needed is a deep-down, system-wide reboot — a second wave of righteous resistance.