Something like this seems to get posted every time academia comes up. I'm sorry for the people having shitty experiences and being forced out of academia, but it's important not to exaggerate the problems. I've been through two UK universities, and I'm now at a US university, and I still meet plenty of very smart people doing interesting things.

Yes, there are shitty bits in academia, like the intense competition. But we should focus on where the problems are and how to fix them, not just write the whole enterprise off as shit.