Why is a quiet follower hated like just like the bullies?

[Anonymous]

Let's say someone got framed for stealing and unfairly suspended. The quiet follower knows the person didn't do it but she doesn't speak up out of fear and just follows the majority. She never joins the bullying nor frames anyone. She doesn't bully nor defend/helps you. She's did nothing.

Then suddenly the bullies aren't the only ones hates and their reputation ruined but so is her. Why is a quiet follower like her hated equally? She didn't do what the bullies did.

[provokeesmokee]

Being a bystander is the same as bullying.

Even if you don't speak up in the moment, you could report the bullies or otherwise do your part to stop their actions.

Staying around them and enabling them isn't any better than doing the harm yourself. You're not only witnessing harm, by refusing to leave or try to stop it, you're contributing to an environment that allows it to happen.

Don't be a coward.

Even if you don't step to the bullies, you should at least no longer hang out with them.

[Vesuvius87]

Followers and/or bystanders are indirectly allowing bullies to get away with it by doing nothing. Their complete indifference is the green light to bullies. I've moved on from my emotional school bullies but the ones that did nothing; I don't have any favorable opinions of them. They're just as bad for standing there and doing nothing.

[ProbablyClueless]

Because she's complicit... she had the information necessary to exonerate the victim, but she chose not to share it. It doesn't matter if she didn't actively participate in the bullying at first, because she made an intentional choice to participate after the fact through her indifference.

[Asker]

Interesting point. Yet doing the right thing is always the hardest thing. If she had done the right thing, she would've likely risked becoming the bullies' (the popular group and her friends) target for a long while or lost part of the popular status, lost her friends.

[ProbablyClueless]

It's less of a social risk than she thinks. But anyway, character is what you do when the pressure is on.

[Billlewis]

I've always wondered about that myself.

[Asker]

Now her reputation is ruined too. It's a risk when someone goes against the majority to do the right thing. Besides losing her friends and part of the popular status, she could've easily risked becoming the popular group's next bullied target.