Bystanders to Bullying

Why do some coworkers participate in the bullying?

They just instantly go along with the bully's narrative. They start to harass a person they barely know.

Is it because they are friends with the bully? Do they just seek reasons to be hateful and abusive? Were they just looking for a reason to attack the target?

Bullies often have a history of pushing people out of the workplace. And launching smear campaigns or character assaisnations against people they dislike or feel threatened by.

But their "flying monkey" or bullying ally just keeps going along with it. And they continue to bully & harass people for some flimsy "reason" (such as the target being too quiet)

They rile eachother up and somehow "justify" their behavior by declaiming the targets are horrible people who "deserve" to be bullied.

One person bullying me must have spoken about 5 words to me beforehand. Yet they just starting harassing me because their "friend" disliked me or was threatened by me.