Why did slavery become awful according to Les Feldick?
Slavery became awful because human beings corrupted God's original purpose: masters stopped being benevolent and instead became bestial and less than merciful. As God first intended it, with benevolent masters caring for illiterate, incapable people, slavery would not have been that bad; man's adulteration made it cruel.
Les explains that the question is why God condoned slavery. He says that when you analyze human history, most people were totally illiterate and totally incapable of decision making, so under those circumstances a benevolent master was the best thing those people could have. Some Southern slaves loved such masters and had it better than they could have hoped on their own. But man has totally adulterated God's purposes: instead of masters being benevolent, they became bestial and less than merciful, and then slavery became awful. As God first intended it, slavery would not have been that bad.