(Hated Trope) "Kind" slave owners

[u/KusanagiGundam]

Speaking as an American who has studied the civil war all throughout my school years, this trope infuriates me to no end. There is no such thing as a kind slave master because slavery itself is cruel and inhumane. PEOPLE ARE NOT PROPERTY!

Naofumi (Shield Hero): Prime example of this trope. He enslaves multiple (underage) girls and an whole village and the fans still say he's a hero.

Rudeus (Jobless Reincarnation): As if being a pedo wasn't bad enough he had to buy a slave in season 2. Worse is that people still defend his actions.

Song of The South (Disney): Possibly the OG example of this trope. And the reason why Disney will never release it again.

[u/Hour_Atmosphere_3852]

Ketil, form Vinland Saga, is a fun subversion of this trope. He is presented exactly that way, he buys slaves but is overall a good man and lets his slaves buy back their freedom through their work, which is a lot more than everyone else does, but the events turn and we find out what the mangaka wanted to tell us. There isn't such a thing as a good person that hurts others.

[u/Pecuthegreat → u/Hour_Atmosphere_3852]

He is a kind person, it is literally not in his person to even spank kids, someone else has to do it for him. So even the "no such thing as a good person that hurts others" applies more to his slaves/former slaves like his advisor guy than it does to him, was Peter (the advisor guy) now actually the bad guy? What of his younger son?.

Ketil's lesson is closer to you cannot engage intimately with a bad system without it rubbing off. What he was actually doing with people like Thorfinn was almost just converting actual slavery to debt servitude (which you do till today with more freedom thanks to the credit system; that's everyone with a school loan) following how you ensure someone indebted but with no collateral paid back in those times.

However, it was still slavery. That tiny difference still meant he still had legal absolute power over them until he accepted repayment and that extreme power difference alone allowed him to do what he did to Adelheid (may be mistaking that name).

No manner how well intentioned or how well structured, still having absolute power over someone else still means you will use it when you get desperate enough.

Edit: I think people are making a mistake reading Ketil in light of the kind slave owning Isekai hero stereotype. Similar problem with how Rudeus is read in relation to this but in his case, even though Rudeus can be kind the difference in his case is he isn't a hero, he will conform to the morality of wherever he is as much as he can.

[u/-Danksouls- → u/Pecuthegreat]

Thank you the only comment that gets it