I take it you've never read comp.lang.perl.misc? :-)

While a language/background probably makes a difference, I think it depends more on how well a group of people manages bad behavior within the group. Perlmonks has its own way of doing this which seems to work with some success. Where I work I've seen people with thick skins that downplay whining do a lot to keep morale up, and affect others in the group to do the same. Of course one or two people, or bad management, can make a big difference in the other direction too. Then there are tech support folks that will behave well even two feet from the abyss (i.e. M$).