It also indicates that the deplorable institution of slavery is okay. Wrong! Yes, definitely a passage that the "Bible is the literal word of God" crowd hates to have to explain away.
I recall quoting this verse a few months ago and having the fundamental christians try to soften what it meant. "Slavery wasn't what it was as viewed today" and "You just don't understand the bible and how it should be read" were the main counter-arguments I got. Thing is, owning another human being is wrong. There's no way of getting around the immorality of it. When a book tells you how to own slaves and that it's okay to beat them, it loses all credibility on being a reliable source for morality. The religious cannot fathom this and this proves they are truly delusional for doing so. Such attitudes are deplorable.