There was counterpoint I saw that advocated for the value of shorting.

You see this big successful company. You know that if they are caught doing something illegal or wildly unethical, you could profit by shorting. So you fund a bit of research to see if there are skeletons. Selling to an embargoed nation, poisoning an area, bribing officials.

Shorting provides a motivation to dig for dirt instead of just cheerleading a company blindly.