One of the amusing things about the revival in Star Wars popular fandom with the new movie coming out (THIS WEEK!) is the revisionist views of the Empire vs the Rebels, the Jedi vs the Sith, the Light Side of the Force vs the Dark Side.
In some ways, it echoes the iconoclasm over "real life" heroes and institutions. It's not really that the Dark Side is all that good (both the Emperor and Vader … and, heck, the whole Empire does a lot of dickish things) but that that the Light Side is itself so dubious in its morality (lies, mind control, lies, political manipulation, lies, killing, lies, etc.).
There's a sociology thesis in there somewhere, I'm sure.
5 Reasons The Dark Side Isn’t As Bad As You Think | Cracked.com
How exactly is the Dark Side ‘evil’ again? It really shouldn’t have been that hard for Vader to convince Luke to join his cause.
Yep.
I knew the Dark Side wasn't bad. Even Obi Wan said "from a certain perspective".