While I totally agree with this, I think there's also the possibility that some use this idea in a self-negating way. I think acknowledging and accepting past (or current) victimization is a first step to healing that wound, as opposed to running away from it or denying it, or projecting fears of helplessness onto other people. I've never seen "playing the victim" as an enactment of actual victimization; rather as a tool of self-punishment that externalizes a feeling in a way that manipulates situations and people. It is a sort of defense, but one that often incites more opposition from others. And, of course, it keeps one stuck because nothing unrecognized can be changed.