--- title: How often have you turned a blind eye instead of speaking out? url: https://www.grahamjones.co.uk/2026/blog/internet-psychology/how-often-have-you-turned-a-blind-eye-instead-of-speaking-out.html date: 2026-11-14T09:45:00+00:00 modified: 2026-11-12T17:30:53+00:00 lang: en_GB --- # How often have you turned a blind eye instead of speaking out? ![People turn a blind eye due to the bystander effect](https://www.grahamjones.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Bystander-effect-scene-–-Canva-AI.png) It has been a troubling week of news in the UK. First the former “TV Personality” Russell Brand was sentenced to more than a decade in jail for rape and sexual assault. At the end of his month-long trial the police confirmed they were looking at two other alleged rape cases and that there were other women now claiming to be victims of his predatory behaviour. Then, the next day, an injunction was lifted so that the media could report that another “TV Personality” and leading children’s author, [David Walliams](https://www.itv.com/news/2026-11-10/david-walliams-accused-of-preying-on-teenage-girls-as-young-as-15), had been accused by several women of grooming and sexual misconduct, some of them teenagers at the time. He denies the allegations. However, my American readers should not think they have been without difficult news. They were reeling from the news that Jensen Huang, the CEO of one of the world’s biggest companies, Nvidia, had been unfaithful to his wife with an alleged Chinese spy. By Thursday, he was out of the company he had founded and led for 33 years. ## Everybody knew Yet, whether it is in the UK or the USA, or probably elsewhere, none of these items of news were actually new to many of the people around these individuals. Indeed, archive footage shows jokes being made about David Walliams’s behaviour at a TV awards ceremony. Then, we saw a previously broadcast clip where [Russell Brand](https://www.politicshome.com/opinion/article/enjoy-show-russell-brand-got-away) said that his camp behaviour was a great “[smokescreen](https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/culture/david-walliams-russell-brand-pretend-gay-smokescreen-b3082413.html)”. In Jensen Huang’s case, US intelligence officials reportedly [raised concerns](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/11/10/china/nvidia-china-spy-scandal-hnk-intl) months ago. People had turned a “blind eye” to unusual, unacceptable, even potentially criminal, behaviour by British TV personalities. At the same time in the USA, people had ignored that at [Nvidia](https://www.ii.co.uk/analysis-commentary/nvidia-losses-reach-30-us-reacts-hot-inflation-data-ii540855) there was, unusually, no company chairperson. Tellingly, as soon as Huang left, the board appointed one for the first time in the company’s history. I was astounded when I heard a journalist on Times Radio the other morning say that at the shareholder meetings only the CEO spoke and answered questions. That is exceptional. Furthermore, the CEO had 60 direct reports. Nobody seemed to care that this was vastly different to the accepted norms of corporate governance. As long as people were making money, and loads of it, they seemed to turn that blind eye. Now the company has lost its founder and seen billions wiped off its value, and people are asking the questions they should have been considering years ago. ## The bystander effect Men in power seem to believe they can get away with anything. They benefit from the fact that the people around them let them do so. Most people turn a blind eye, instead of speaking out. This is related to a psychological phenomenon known as the “bystander effect”. This is a social psychological phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. The more onlookers there are, the less likely any single person is to step in. Only recently, I witnessed this when a man collapsed just a few feet away from me at Waterloo Station. He started shaking violently but the woman he was with was clearly not concerned. Several people around, myself included, looked on wondering what to do. The man appeared to be having some kind of seizure and I suspect that his companion was used to these temporary neurological episodes as she did nothing. As I stepped forward to help, while other people looked on, not doing anything, he quickly jumped to his feet as though nothing had happened. The lack of action by those around him was because of the “[diffusion of responsibility](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1968-08862-001)”. This is when we all think others will do something so we don’t have to. We also see this kind of bystander effect on social media. I expect you will have witnessed unacceptable posts, caustic comments, and trolling behaviour on various social networks. But how many of us have reported them or done anything about it? Most people turn a blind eye, and all that does is allow such negative behaviour to continue. ## What James Blunt got right The answer to dealing with the bystander effect is to do what James Blunt did on “[The Celebrity Traitors](https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002csng/the-celebrity-traitors)” recently. The group had been given a challenge to complete so they could earn cash for charity. As his fellow celebs seemed aimless once the starter buzzer had been fired, the former British Army Captain looked people in the eye and gave them orders. That’s precisely what works to defeat the bystander effect. Most people are frozen by a situation where they know somebody should intervene, but do not do so themselves. That’s because they are not sure who is in charge. Once someone takes on the role of being the boss, people all muck in and help. They are no longer bystanders. ## It happens at work too At work, you may well have encountered bullies, or known people who have seedy behaviour around people of a different gender. Everyone knows it is wrong, but nobody knows what to do. They are all waiting for someone to take charge. This is why men in power get away with it for years. Until somebody eventually says this cannot carry on and is brave enough to speak out, the bystander effect is letting the perpetrator continue their negative behaviours. Then, when someone does take charge and starts suggesting what people should do, other victims appear, wishing they too had spoken out sooner. ## Why people stay silent Of course, there are good reasons why people hesitate. Speaking out carries real risks. You might have misread the situation. You might face a backlash from colleagues, or even put your job at risk. And everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence. But speaking out does not mean shouting accusations across the office or on social media. It means raising your concern with the right person, through the right channel, as soon as you notice something is wrong. In the UK, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 protects workers who report wrongdoing in this way, and most organisations have a whistleblowing policy for exactly this purpose. If you run a business, make sure your staff know what that channel is. The risk of speaking out properly is usually far smaller than the cost of staying silent. We can’t allow people in our workplaces or on our social media pages to behave so badly, potentially criminally. Their negative behaviour must be called out, and they must be taken to task. If not, they continue to behave badly even though “everyone knows” and says “it's just them”. That’s turning a blind eye, which can lead you to a CEO who is happy to head a company with a structure that is unusual in the extreme and that ultimately can cause problems. The answer to this is to speak out sooner rather than later. So, if you fear doing that and you yourself are frozen by the bystander effect then I suggest you do just one thing this week to help you avoid the issue. Take 10 minutes to go through the advice from the American Psychological Association on its [Bystander Intervention Tip Sheet](https://www.apa.org/pi/health-equity/bystander-intervention). Doing so will mean you can reduce the number of people turning a blind eye when they should be speaking out. And the more of us who do that, the better our workplaces will be.