Seems to me that most people understand the difference between good and evil, and most people prefer good to evil, but we have a fashion where good is considered low-status, so many people are ashamed to admit their preferences publicly.
It's probably some mix of signalling and counter-signalling. On the signalling side, powerful people are often evil, or at least indifferent towards good and evil. By pretending that I don't care about good, I am making myself appear more powerful. On the counter-signalling side, any (morally sane) idiot can say that good is better that evil; I display my sophistication by expressing a different opinion.
but we have a fashion where good is considered low-status,
I do not think that is true. There are exceptions of course but in general most people would say that they prefer someone that is truthful to a lier, honest to deceitful etc. and also despise malevolence.
powerful people are often evil or at least indifferent towards good and evil
That is also not really true as far as I can tell. Again, there are exceptions, but the idea that powerful people are there because they oppressed the less powerful seems to be a residue of Marxist ideology. Apparentl...
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