If you take a look at the various questions on Academia Stack Exchange where abusive, rude, or unpleasant situations are presented, I feel there's often a culture of dismissal. Many comments and answers always try to play devil's advocate, for example:

* Trying to find a reason why a supervisor may only *seem* abusive but are actually just doing their job (and maybe their character is just not very friendly);
* Excusing rude behavior such as harsh criticism with no constructive feedback simply because it's commonplace in academia;
* Often proposing to give bad situations two, three, and more chances because giving up is shown as a lack of desire to grow in character (often for no reason but just "because it's bad to give up on a situation").

Only the most extreme situations usually result in answers that directly mention leaving the situation or going to the authorities (e.g. sexual assault).

But a look at similar situations on [Workplace Stack Exchange](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/) paints a very different picture. For example, an abusive manager is never tolerated and most answers (rightly) point out that nobody should be the target of abuse and there's a general consensus to direct people to leave abusive situations as soon as there's a clear indication that they cannot be resolved properly. There is no merit in staying in a terrible workplace and fighting through it, sometimes it is just better to leave and find a better place.

**Why do these complaints receive such different treatments on these two sites?**