I see where you're coming from and that's a fair assessment.
However, I think you're being willfully dismissive of progress. There was a time when when people owned slaves and if you'd ask a slave if they felt happy they would say "yes, my master is treating me well and I have everything I need, I'm lucky to have this particular master". If you'd ask them if they'd ever contemplated freedom they would say it never entered their mind, this is simply the way the world is.
Today we don't have slaves and I think you would agree that even though a slave 2000 years ago would say that he's totally satisfied, that's not a good enough justification for slavery.
In other words: asking the person whose freedom is impeded does not give you a reliable answer. That's a simple fact of psychology. We turn whatever situation we find ourselves in into one that we accept, for the sake of our own sanity. And you're very bright so I don't understand why you're missing this. Do you think this piece of psychology is complete fiction?