Does a definition with “status quo” look something like this?
“The blackmailer sets up a situation in which the blackmailed has two options {A, B}. Both blackmailed and blackmailer prefer option B to option A. The status quo is a situation C, which the blackmailed prefers to B, whereas the blackmailer prefers B to C.”
Buying up a MacGuffin that someone else wants, and offering to sell it for an exorbitant price (B) doesn’t really fit here. Presumably the status quo (C) is where the MacGuffin lover doesn’t have the object of desire in the first place, so they still prefer B to C, and it’s not blackmail. However, stealing the MacGuffin and then offering to sell it back (or destroy it otherwise) does fit the description. This means that “ransom” is a subset of “blackmail”, which I think makes sense.
Does a definition with “status quo” look something like this?
“The blackmailer sets up a situation in which the blackmailed has two options {A, B}. Both blackmailed and blackmailer prefer option B to option A. The status quo is a situation C, which the blackmailed prefers to B, whereas the blackmailer prefers B to C.”
Buying up a MacGuffin that someone else wants, and offering to sell it for an exorbitant price (B) doesn’t really fit here. Presumably the status quo (C) is where the MacGuffin lover doesn’t have the object of desire in the first place, so they still prefer B to C, and it’s not blackmail. However, stealing the MacGuffin and then offering to sell it back (or destroy it otherwise) does fit the description. This means that “ransom” is a subset of “blackmail”, which I think makes sense.