Shorting gains its immorality and evilness because it involves borrowing investor's shares to reduce the value of their investment and net worth. Now if the uptick rule was in place then it would not be as evil (but still open to manipulation).
The "keep the bastards honest" argument is nonsense. If management doesn't perform people will not buy the stock, plain and simple. To say management has an incentive to perform because of "shorts" is absurd.
