The thing about academia, though, is that there is no escape. Not only is this behavior everywhere in the academy, economics dictates with very few exceptions you are stuck in the system and have to become part of it just to subsist and participate in research.
Meanwhile in the business world it’s relatively a simple matter to quit and work elsewhere when you end up with a psycho boss, and if you’re clever it is relatively simple to be compensated in a way that makes it possible to split away and start your own business or otherwise attain a significant level of control over your own livelihood and career goals.
As the saying goes, “the only way to win is not to play” when it comes to academia. Unfortunately that just further concentrates the worst characteristics. As someone who escaped academia it isn’t lost on me that academics almost universally love communism, a system that rigidly enforces equality such that it’s impossible to excel and break away from the system. One of the wonderful things about business is you can earn enough to eventually step away.
And no, you don’t see maniacal behavior everywhere. You hear a lot about the 5% who behave terribly because they draw a lot of complaints and make up approximately 100% of the reports you see on sites like RetractionWatch.