But when they called on their friends to help, caused outrage among the online community. Now some are calling for hedge fund managers to serve jail time, while the folks at Robinhood, the digital trading app, are facing over 30 civil suits for imposing abrupt trading restrictions.

In all the uproar, there is an overarching lesson to be learned about how important it is for our battered institutions to restore their credibility and unify the body politic.

If you're a Robinhood user, you may have noticed last month you were unable to buy GameStop, AMC, or Nokia. You may also have noticed that official conversation on the topic was a little one-sided in the news. While CNBC hosted institutional giants hoping to save their positions, Reddit and Discord silenced all dissent by temporarily taking down the fora where small retail traders developed their plan, citing hate speech.

This coordinated response from the stuffed shirts to combat Reddit investors backfired. Instead of causing the stock pumpers to back off, it only rallied more energy against hedge fund managers and corporate elites, and prompted calls to "hold the line." An odd sense of broad, anti-elite solidarity swept the online community, gaining support from folks like billionaire inventor Elon Musk and Dave Portnoy, founder of the Barstool Sports media company. Unlikely lawmakers in Congress as well as their supporters have joined in — Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) even seemed to find common ground for a moment, as both called for a congressional investigation of Robinhood. (Of course, it didn't last.)