I think a part of the West could indeed understand (if not approve). Many things such as you mentioned happened in a large part of Europe as well, 19th century

I think a part of the West could indeed understand (if not approve). Many things such as you mentioned happened in a large part of Europe as well, 19th century included: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_Horrors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_Horrors You can justify many things if you go digging through history this way.