I've known places where there is an absolute divide between favoured and unfavoured and the favoured would have no idea (guess which I was on!) Victims are often chosen because they are unlikely to be able to speak out
That was my experience too @Binglebong (in academia, not acting industry) . Victims were chosen because they were vulnerable in some way and therefore less likely to be believed- people on temp contracts who needed a contract renewal, people depending on work visa, someone with an underlying health condition who was then branded as 'not up to the job' and 'over-emotional'...
And true, if you're favoured you may think the boss is a bit odd at times but not too bad (I thought this initially until I ended up in the unfavoured camp), and all those colleagues who go off sick with stress/ leave/ look unhappy and demoralised just don't have what it takes.
But I still think there's a lot of weird denial going on, where people essentially know something isn't right but they normalise and enable the abusive behaviour to further their own careers . I think we need to move away from seeing those who do nothing as 'nice but blind and maybe a tad non-confrontational'. What they do is enabling the abuser's behaviour- they are bystanders and bear some responsibility imo.