"why would you want to"

you want to if you have a mortgage payment each month, or there are people in your life who depend on you for food and clothing.

Maybe you just don't want to get stabbed in the back before you get a new job.

at least you should try not to lose in that situation

We, the bold and productive, have to stand up to that kind of stuff. Else they by attrition.

Well you at least don't want to bring a pillow to a knife fight.

Actually, wouldn't a pillow be a reasonably effective way to deflect a knife?

I usually think of the metaphor in terms of bringing a knife to a pillow fight as a play on "that's like bringing a knife to a gun fight" in which case my formulation is about having an innocent bit of fun and then someone going way overboard and doing something absolutely inappropriate. I sort of picture it in my head like everyone is having fun and then someone whips out a knife and then everyone starts to get very terrified.

I never really considered how a pillow would actually hold up against a knife in a fight. My money would still be on the knife, but I take your point.