Uh, yes, I think we're agreeing here.
If I buy a healthy stock my cost is the stock. If it goes up, yay. If it goes down, I have a paper loss but don't have to do anything. I can ride it out long term as generally a healthy company will go up. No decision necessary for short term volatility price shifts.
If I short sell, I have to cover if it goes up or I can spend additional money on options to limit my loss but I can also be whipsawed into a real loss in a volatile market. Stock can go up for stupid or no reason. Then I have to decide to execute my options, take the loss due to volatility, then watch it drop over the long term where I believed it would go originally except I'm out and lost money due to short term price shifts. If I don't execute my options then I need to cover. Either way, I need to make a decision if it goes up after I short.
Short selling is for inside traders and people who have a high risk acceptance investing profile (and can afford those losses from being wrong or whipsawed). There are many more short traders than short traders who can afford to short trade.
I am not opposed to shorting, just not for me.