While I disagree with your comment, I do like that you made it because it presents an opportunity to say that there's nothing special about unpaid internships that make them more ethical than any other underpaid work. It's all about the exploitation of people who are in weak positions for the benefit of people in strong positions or setting the requirements for entry such that someone must already be in a strong enough position to survive those requirements. It seems different because it's been normalized, but "normal" doesn't equal "good".

I'd also say similar about how healthcare workers are treated, though that is more about the ridiculous hours and on call times than pay. And any other profession that has accepted it "needs" to abuse people trying to get in.

Btw, that "underpaid work" above includes the majority of jobs in the western economy because capitalism itself is all about exploiting the labour of those who don't own everything they need for survival or participation in the economy. Ironically, the owners themselves are in the same boat, since they don't own the labour they need for their own participation, but somehow we've landed in a situation where most people think that ownership is far more important than time and effort.