J South, your arguments remind me of the case in upstate New York where a
man was convicted of enslaving young women he grabbed off the street. He
kept them in a special room built in his cellar and raped them at his
convenience.
When he was caught, he could not understand what the fuss was all about. The
girls all came to accept their situation. In fact, he had videos of him
joking and dancing with them. Although, they often asked to be released,
they really did come to realize that this was going to be their lot, there
was nothing they could do about it, and they accepted it.
This and WPA narratives make excellent studies of human nature but tell us
little about history.
Paul