Victimhood in disputes shifts with the failure of one’s own protection

Evidence

In this particular case, as it happens, the rival firm was also protected, albeit not so well. This suggests that, if many dealers employ private protection, it becomes difficult to distinguish genuine abuses from failure of protection. This problem is the source of much confusion for police and observers alike, who, by applying a universal logic typical of legitimate states, are inclined to be inflexible in their interpretation and to believe that victims are invariably innocent. And indeed sometimes they are; but the role of victim is a shifting one, and those who complain may simply be those who on that particular occasion were for some reason let down by their own protector. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 494

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s mapping: complaints of ‘abuse’ are signals of protection failure — an information-revealing mechanism in the private-protection market. — connects to: Disputes over terminology for historical wrongs encode the same victim-perpetrator viewpoint gap. — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations:…, 105
• DEFINE: Redefines the victim role in protected markets: a complainant is anyone whose protector failed them, not necessarily the aggrieved innocent.