system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Animorphs] How were the Iskoort any less morally objectionable than the Yeerks' current M.O.?

Despite the fact that I never ended up finishing it, I was pretty big on this series when I was a kid so occasionally it still pops up into my head. I'm haven't touched it in probably over a decade and a half, so correct me if any details are wrong.  
  
The reason Crayak wants the Iskoort dead is because he doesn't want the Yeerks to discover that there is another way to live, as symbiotes rather than parasites. However, the reason the Iskoorts are symbiotic rather than parasitic is that the Yoorts either created or genetically modified the Isk so that the Isk couldn't live without the Yoorts. I remember the book acting like that was OK because the Yoorts modified themselves so that they couldn't live without the Isk either (meaning they can't infest any other species), but this still sticks out to me as horrific.  
  
You have sentient creatures (the Isk) who are essentially slaves, and cannot escape their slavery or they will die. Surely there are some of them who want the ability to control their own bodies, so how are the Iskoort fundamentally different from controllers? There is a difference on the grand scale between Iskoort and Yeerk, sure, because the Yeerks' invasions carry casualties beyond the beings they enslave, but being the slightly lesser of two evils doesn't make the Iskoort not evil.  
  
As far as I can tell, unless I'm missing something major, the only way the Iskoort are the good guys is if either the Isk aren't sentient, or if they can opt out and be modified in a way that allows them to survive without the Yoort in their head.  
  
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly and the Iskoort aren't really portrayed as a morally good version of the Yeerks? Maybe the Animorphs realize they're still evil but are just trying to foil Crayak's plans because Crayak is a dick (who, if memory serves, is specifically against the Yeerks becoming like the Iskoort because he wants the Yeerks to continue to invade and cause destruction, not because of some position on the symbiotes vs. parasites argument).  
  
I'm not entirely sure that a morally related question is allowed on this sub but I hope it's OK. This one bothers me every time I think about it because it feels like I must be missing something, and I don't know of a better group of people to fill in the blanks in my memory than this place.
gpt
It's entirely possible that it *is* exploitative and just that nobody thinks of it that way because hey, we aren't conquering anymore.

It's possible that the Isk aren't sentient and the Yoort are just driving around what would otherwise be vegetative clone bodies.

Another possibility is that the Iskoort are some kind of gestalt consciousness comprised of cognitive function from both the Isk and the Yoort - they need each other to be considered truly "conscious" or sentient. It might be misleading to even consider them separate organisms - the Yoort at this point might almost be as if a piece of your brain needed to crawl out and eat periodically.