There is an unfortunately high tolerance of obvious mistruths in politics and finance that could easily be mistaken for nihilism. But it isn't, it is usual lies by people who are powerful. Nothing new. Always been there. Now that the internet exists it is easier to see behind the curtain.
The WSB crowd mocks r/investing because a 50 year timeline optimally turns 10k into 220k (not enough to be rich). With options you can do half that overnight.
However, options lose in most cases. With options pretty much everyone who uses them will have the experience of a loss even though their theory is confirmed. For example Tesla misses sales and the stock price goes up. The fact that the miss was priced in, makes it feel like retail investing is simply there to be shaken down in the same way a casino has a house edge.
"Don't fight the fed" has been a better slogan than "Diversify in stocks with dividends and good fundamentals"
Short term trading (as opposed to long term investing) is an activity that has extremely smart, experienced and well-funded people going up against each other. They are studying the markets at least full time and many work for employers (HFTs, investment banks, etc) that regularly invest hundreds of millions in infrastructure in order to gain an edge. Going up against all that as an amateur individual is like signing up for a serious poker tournament as a casual player. You could still win, but it's by luck alone and the odds are heavily against you. Long term investing has much less of this, because in the long run markets are weighing machines instead of voting machines and they measure the long term trends of economic development.
Index funds are a brilliant invention for retail investors, because they maximize the exposure to the long term economic trends while minimizing the chances of getting into a trade that does not favor you. Of course, the excitement of getting into bets and even winning every now and then is very addictive and this is what most of WSB seems to be chasing.