Add to that the amount of people who have had to live in disorganized crime infested monstrosities, and a culture that doesn't know which way is up, many people find sub optimal order preferable to idealistic chaos. Rap, grunge, stories of rebellion and thug culture were cool when most people had a cozy life and wanted to seem badass. But the average 20 something now has known nothing but clown world and self flagellation since he hit puberty. A lot of these kids have a DAD who acts thug-lyfe and they know in reality he's a massive coward.
This is no small thing, culture reflects public sentiment and i think this is part of why the elites are having so much trouble supporting the mobs like they did 5 years ago. They likely have data analysts and social engineers who have made it clear to them: "Lawlessness aint cool no more..." They can't come right out and say it but they're having to dance around the issue when in 2020 they were sucking rioter cock at every turn.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
The average 20-something also grew up hearing "be yourself" without ever being told what "being yourself" actually meant. You know why thirty and twenty-somethings are so enamored with identities and pronouns? Because that's one of the few ways society (bottom text) told them they could matter. They were told what to do, and they got punished when they didn't do it, but were "shown" over and over that not towing the line made you a fucking loser. You deserved what you get because what's wrong with you? Not being like the cool kids?
Do better. They were never "allowed" to find their purposes, which are coincidentally growing fewer as everything becomes automated. In practice, society beat them over the head that unless you're from a handful of groups (that coincidentally benefit the elite), they flat out didn't matter. You didn't even have to be in a grab bag community, either. If you were a criminal piece of shit that ruins the lives of everyone around you, that's all fine and dandy. These people were pointed at "protecting the little guy" and those "little guys" are your local perverts and criminals. So once you subscribe to any (approved) ideology, you're no longer a cog to be thrown away, but Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way.
However, even if you buy it at first, you find that "fighting" doesn't improve anything. Being "him," being an ooga booga bix nood muhfugga just gets you shot by cops or an opp. "Affecting positive change" in the name of social justice just perpetuates the problems that make your society crumble. If you hit the tard lottery like Thunberg or AOC did, you learn that you have to play the game. Sure, you could throw yourself near a gas line or vote "present" on an Israel funding bill, but at best, you didn't change a god damn thing. At worst, you turn people against you and make yourself look like a joke. Sure, you get a good paycheck, but it becomes increasingly obvious that being one for the history books is an illusion. You were always a cog, just for a different machine.
What does this have to do with media, or what makes the bad guys look cool? Well, the bad guys either accept that they're cogs, only for a better machine, or reject the whole zeitgeist altogether and forge purposes for themselves. I held my tongue about Star Wars because, fuck Star Wars, I'd rather stand around in tear gas than watch robots wander a desert for hours. However, I've noticed more and more people come out and appreciate Vader, even outside the farms. He's the closest thing to a self-made myth in modern pop culture, ironically becoming more punk or whatever than, say, Dustborn. I'm not watching the prequels, but if Star Wars were about Vader instead of Luke or those
stupid fucking robots, I might've liked it more. At least there's progression. At least something would happen instead of infinite retcons. There wouldn't be an endless loop of nothing, but Making Society Great Again.
TL;DR: Identity as they sold it is a psy-op. People don't support mobs because they're scumbags. No one in his right mind thinks scumbags are cool, especially after seeing trash-filled, graffiti-scrawled city streets. The current face of the left is not the Rebel Alliance, but the Dustborn, and it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
