Piggybacking off a previous thread about highly dysfunctional friendships with horrendous power imbalance...

When is it appropriate to speak up or fight on behalf of someone else? Suppose you were witness to Friend A berating Friend B, and you wanted to tell off Friend A for being a **** because you like Friend B. Suppose also that the Friend B played along with the abuse and made no mention either way of wanting you to speak up for them.

I have a habit of interjecting in people's arguments, especially when one party is running roughshod over the other. I usually justify this as "chivalry" or whatever, but deep down I know that it's just because I like fighting and no one will fight with me directly anymore because I'm mean.

Lately, however, it has occurred to me that I may be overstepping the boundaries of Friend B, and maybe that makes me no better than Friend A, even if I am standing up for B, because I'm taking away their chance to speak up for themselves. Maybe it'll be better for them in the short term. But in the long term, it kinda sorta feels like I'm playing a game with A where B is the ball.