WH
Questions of Treason

"Close the door," he said quietly, returning the plaque to his pouch, and she obeyed. She wanted to run. She wanted to plead for mercy. But he was a Seeker, so she stood there, trembling. To her surprise, he dropped her diary back into the lockbox and gestured to the room's single chair. "Sit. There is no need for you to be uncomfortable."
Slowly, she hung up her cloak and settled onto the chair, for once not caring how uncomfortable the strange ladderlike back was. She did not try to hide her shivers. Even one of the Blood, even one of the High Blood, might quake at being questioned by a Seeker. She had a small hope. He had not simply ordered her to accompany him. Perhaps he did not know after all.

...

Seekers were the secret hand of the Empress, might she live forever; in the Empress's name, he could put even Suroth to the question, or Tuon herself. True, he would die horribly if it turned out he had been in error, but the risk was small with Egeanin. She was only of the low Blood. If he put Egeanin to the question. . . .
To her shock, rather than simply telling her to obey, he sat studying her. "I will explain certain things," he said, and that was a greater shock. Seekers never explained, so she had heard. "You are no use to me, or the Empire, unless you survive, and you will not survive if you fail to understand what you face. If you reveal a word of what I tell you to anyone, you will dream of the Tower of the Ravens as a respite from where you will find yourself.

The very fact that a Seeker could put the Heir to the Throne to the Question on the suspicion of treason says it all IMO ... not a single one of the examples you gave has a thought about "the Seekers ain't so bad" ... not thinking of them at all isn't the same as not fearing them! Naturally the characters that have actually committed treason are the ones to think actively about the Seekers, but note what else Bethamin says in her POV from WH Questions of Treason:

Lying to a Seeker was treason

Every law in the Seanchan Empire is designed to keep the populace under tight control. The Seekers make the KGB or the Savak or the friggin Nazi SS look tame!