I had the impression the 501st was a different beast from "The Empire Did Nothing Wrong" types. I thought the point of them being stormtroopers was so everyone else had someone to heroically oppose? Their charity events seem to focus on things like kids shooting them with dart guns.

I'm not saying they haven't been co-opted since I learned about them several years ago; but last I knew, they were happy playing bad guys to let other people be good guys.