“Slavery is sanctioned by the Torah yet nobody in their right mind would say that today slavery is OK” (theprof1)
I’m not sure any Jew in their right mind would say that something which is sanctioned by the Torah is not OK.
Perhaps you think the Torah is talking about someone who sails to Africa, forces a load of black people onto a boat, brings them back and sells them. That is geneivas nefesh.
We don’t really appreciate how hard life could be then. If someone had no money, he and his children would just starve. If you have no way of raising money (and no-ones able to give you tzedoko) then one last way of surviving is to sell yourself.
Even once he’s had to sell himself, the Yiddishe mehalech is to treat them kindly. As the Rambam writes at the end of Hilchos Avodim, cruelty is not the way, the Chachomim horishonim would give their avodim from everything they themselves ate, and before they ate themselves. He’s referring even to Eved C’naani.
The point is, if the Torah says something we think is unfair or wrong, we have to try to understand the Torah and accept it as Hashems word. If you can’t understand, say you don’t understand. But don’t turn around and say “its just not OK”.