I think you are making the grave mistake of confusing cause and effect. Confusing a price willingly paid for motivation.

>yes, they do want to be oppressed - but by their own people. not by your people.

This is a half truth. Nobody wants to be oppressed, but they will choose the boot they think is lighter on them or heavier on others.

You may have been around a lot of different people, but I don't think you actually listened if this is the conclusion you are drawing. You can take that as a comment from someone who identifies more as a "middle class redneck" and then the equivalent alternative.

Nobody is clamoring to have their medical and retirement benefits taken away, but they have been sold on the idea that the alternative is to pay for both their own and that of other people. They are picking the less oppressive option as they understand them.

You can ask your in-laws what they think the alternative to Mao was. You can ask the Russians what they think the alternative to Putin is. Both will provide you an alternative that they think would be worse.

People will accept some oppression if they think it is the Lesser of two options. They don't actively seek it out