Yeah, academicians are assholes! I quit PhD programs with full scholarships twice. PhD = Permanent head damage. Full tenure in university not guaranteed. Some are just looking for temporary slaves to publish more papers so that they can secure that coveted head of department position, dean, chancellor and etc... Most are superficial and ruthless human beings if you know them well enough unless you have strong family connections.
Yeah, especially PHDs in non-STEM subjects are rediculous and most of their paper have <2 citations which means they're probably garbage.