Back to the other stuff though, it's the blunting and changing of what is presented as a domineering, xenophobic, expansionist, and not-very-nice 'Empire' into a kinder, gentler, politically correct faction.
It's their baby, and if CCP wants the Amarr to phase out the slavery aspect then so be it, but it's one hell of a edit to try and pull.
It is, and you're right about that.
But that is what's happening, and it's what's been happening since before game launch.
The narrative arc of the Amarr Empire at launch in 2003
begins with Heideraan VII winning that peace award and trying to reform his Empire. Everything in Amarr's storyline has been about the forces working toward, and those working against, that path, which is espoused in the only book in the game that is a physical item you can carry around (Pax Amarria).
Remember, the New Reclaiming was started by an external invasion. How does a reformer use such an event to meet their ends? How do you keep the hardliners busy?
The Introduction to Amarr as a race when you begin the game focuses on the Rebellion and Vak'Atioth, and the way in which those defeats have flipped Amarr society, and how Amarr deals with the rest of the cluster. Amarr starts the game of EVE on the back foot, re-evaluating everything.
Amarr has the best storyline of all the Empires IMO, because it is very much a monolithic hulking super-entity that is on the brink of transformation, in a Nation that by it's very history and make-up is extremely resistant to any form of change. Aside from insta-Heth in the State, no other Empire has any real progression or direction to it, it seems, which is a shame...
EVE hammers these things into new players with a heavy hand. It's no wonder that the RP-inclined get a whiff of it, affecting the character they decide to make.
On the other hand, I won't deny that some folks are just too wussy to make a strong Amarr who adheres to the Old Ways, and are just trying to make the race more palatable to thier RL selves and ideals, and that shit annoys me. Still, CCP and all the chrons make the case that those sort of Amarr would not only exist, but would be exploding in numbers.