So... what have you seen? Every anime convention I go to has a ton of people who enjoy cosplaying, and a ton of people who admire the folks who put some much time and effort into what they do.
Ok at cosplay conventions it may seem alot, but if you were to include the rest of the youth those people who admire cosplayers wouldent be alot now would they?

They degrade what they cosplay as? How? How can you degrade an anime/video game character?
You give it a bad image. I'm not saying i hate cosplayers or that they suck. I just dont like the "star trekky" image Final Fantasy has recieved thanks to cosplayers.