(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/rllrdr]

The ability to portray offering a higher standard of living than free citizens still as cruelty is the alternative I'm talking about. They we're free to leave if they refused the offer. I can't remember what happens after that, but hypothetically if the master did give them food and medicine for the road, so what? I can totally picture your generic isekai mc doing that. Does that make them a good person? If his other slaves see this and still choose to stay with him, is it consensual now?

[u/KamikazeArchon → u/rllrdr]

but hypothetically if the master did give them food and medicine for the road, so what?

Then they've freed their slaves, which is clearly better than continuing to be a slaveowner.

 I can totally picture your generic isekai mc doing that.

The stories where they actually do that are few, but such protagonists are certainly portrayed better. (They unfortunately often then have the "slaves love being slaves" trope, as with the Shield Hero instance.)

If his other slaves see this and still choose to stay with him, is it consensual now?

What do you think the label "slave" means?

If a person is free to leave at any time and will face no negative consequences - either directly from you or from society/enforcers/the environment- for doing so, why would you call them "a slave"?

If a person lives in a slaveowning society and offers freedom to all slaves they purchase, with financial support for establishing themselves, we generally don't call that person a "slavemaster", we call them an "abolitionist". That is indeed about the best you can do in such a circumstance, assuming you don't have magic or military powers capable of overthrowing the whole society. As was mentioned elsewhere, at that point it's basically a Schindler's List situation.

[u/rllrdr → u/KamikazeArchon]

So most isekai mc slavery isn't actually slavery then? In most cases, the only negative consequence is the same negative consequence as leaving your job. They'll be fine if they can land another job. What would be wrong with them then? Only that the "slaves love being slaves" trope is contrived?

> offers freedom to all slaves they purchase

No, unless the slaves were inherited, it has been widely argued that purchasing is the problem, it fuels slavers to capture more slaves. Only people who dismantles the system at its core are regarded as abolitionist.

[u/KamikazeArchon → u/rllrdr]

"Isekai mc slavery" is quite varied, and I'm unaware of any statistics allowing me to make confident statements about "most".

The specific first example shown here absolutely does face negative consequences. There's a whole magically enforced pain seal, which is actively used.

[u/rllrdr → u/KamikazeArchon]

Never touched the first example so let's use the second. I forget if there was any explicit enforcement, but the pertinent negative consequence of leaving is that an unskilled slave would starve to death on the streets. The mc and his friend buy their slave for craftsmanship. They give her an education, train her in crafting, start paying her a wage once she's skilled enough, when they suspect she's dissatisfied with her living standards and is trying to buy her freedom, they agree she should be allowed to, which she could easily do with the skills she acquired and have enough money left over to go anywhere to make her own living. Of course it ends with the stereotypical "that's a misunderstanding, master treats me well, I love being a slave!". So again, is the only thing wrong with this that the "slaves love being slaves" trope is contrived?

[u/KamikazeArchon → u/rllrdr]

I haven't watched enough of that specific one to comment on it.

ETA: just from your description, "buy her freedom" is suspicious. Why would she need to do that if all that happens is she's unemployed? This implies that there is actually enforcement.

Of course, since it's just a story, it may very well be just a plot hole. But that's part of the problem - trying to have these "kind masters" generally requires suspending some part of how the world actually works.

[u/rllrdr → u/KamikazeArchon]

There's probably enforcement, that's why I said pertinent. Enforcement is redundant when she's already going to starve to death and by the time it stops being redundant she has the skills to buy her way out if she really wants to.