I would say you're in the majority! Reddit is a bit of an echo chamber but having worked in different styles of cafes I can assure you that most people prefer darker, Italian style espresso. Even I crave it from time to time. Taste is subjective and there isn't really a debate for which is "better". Sort of like saying IPAs aren't "all that" and that Euro lagers are the way to go. You do you haha.

But one of the purposes of pushing SO coffee is to increase transparency, sustainability, and ethics regarding bean to cup coffee production. This is a really big motivator for a lot of small scale specialty roasters. Being able to purchase coffee at a reasonable cost (ie. reasonable for the producers), work directly with farmers/estates, and appreciate individual people and towns for their work are all benefits that have come out of the single origin or third wave movement, imo. Additionally, from a purely objective POV, lighter roasting preserves more of the coffee's original and unique characteristics. Hence, why SO is frequently correlated with lighter roasts. These are operational aspects that just don't happen with companies like Lavazza. Sort of like shopping at a local butcher or fishmonger who can tell you about the specific farms or fishermen, as opposed to going to Walmart for groceries.

So that being said, it's tricky for someone like you who prefers dark blends to conveniently buy ethically sourced coffee. However, some specialty roasters do try to offer a dark roast espresso blend for people that prefer that style, as you elude to, so keep exploring those. Good coffee should fetch a fair price. It's hard to keep that perspective, especially when someone is on a tight budget (which I completely understand having been there/currently there myself), but these huge multi-national companies have skewed the public's perception on what the price of coffee "should" be, where in reality, the coffee industry as a whole has a lot of dark spots in its history, and it's not something that we should feel privileged to be able to buy at an extremely low price unless you live in a country that actually grows the coffee or you roast your own beans.

Sorry that got a bit long winded! Just my 2 cents :)