Simply that if I could pay for an escort you would not come to attack me. But since the game does not allow me to have an escort you can attack me without me doing anything. This more than doing the pirate seems to me to have fun doing pigeon shooting
You can fit weapons and shields to your own ship and make it self-escorting.
Also, if you're in a context where a player pirate is attacking you, then you can pay for a player escort - Void Opals actually makes it practical to transfer enough money to be worth the escort's while, potentially.