When did the hero switch hats?

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  I'm surprised liberal New Yorker's still celebrate the day the Catholic priest drove the snakes (pagans) from Ireland.  It is (after all) Christian related.  Still it was a great time in Irish history and a time when hero's still wore white hats which brings me to the point of today's blog. 
I'm watching FOX this morning and they show a bunch of River dancers in front of the studio dressed in black riot gear with black skull helmets on in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.  Now this is not my idea of what should greet me on t.v. on this particular day.  The title of the riot gear/skull helmet exhibition was "Defending Ireland."  Okay.  I get it now, but that made me think, "When did the hero switch hats?"
When did the hero stop showing up in shining white armor that blinded the enemy(remember Gandalf in LOR The Two Towers appearing on the morning of the fifth day dressed in white with white hair flowing and the blinding white light of the moring sun behind him) to drive back the black hat wearing evil doers? 
I understand that law enforcement often don black riot gear to "appear" more formidible and threatening to give the perpetrator pause.  I also understand that the military at times choose the black gear in order to dissappear under the cover of darkness.  These are definately the "good" guys.  There are reasons they dress this way.  Just as there are reasons large people wear black...it slims. The Goth subculture favors black clothing, nails, etc. because it sets them apart and makes them easily identifiable and possibly because it slims.  Black is a warm color and an excellent neutral.  It can also be very dramatic when paired with white or red, but it is very difficult to associate black with a "good" feeling or with a hero or savior.
I think this fits with the trend in recent years for literary, film and television anti-hero's.  You know the one's.  The firefighter who saves lives and buildings while destroying himself and his loved ones with his alcoholism.  The doctor who brings lives back from the brink with his uncanny diagnostic skills while pushing himself over the edge with an illegal and unprofessional addiction.  Even criminals are often glorified like the hired killer who ends up sacrificing himself in order to save a little girl he's befriended.  Have we reached the point where there are no truly heroic "white hat" types?  You know the ones that make the right descisions even when it's not the easy one.  The one's whose heroic deeds are truly an extension of their upright/moral personal lives.
Everyone knows immagery is a powerful tool.  Black is the color of death.  It is the color of mourning, loss, regret, sorrow, depression, anger and (yes) evil.  If we're going to dance in celebration of a hero's battle against the evil serpent (pagans) shouldn't we be wearing a costume that symbolizes good rather than evil?  When did we lower our standards?  When did we decide it's okay to be good with a pinch of bad or redeem a lifetime of murder by saving one life?  Shouldn't we all be trying to wear white hats rather than telling ourselves and our children dirty gray or black is okay?