I have also been very lucky to get a job that I enjoy (well, it has its moments) in a field that I love. This, though, makes me more understanding of the situation many CMs find themselves in.
Within my field (academia), it is very common for people to spend years working hard on poverty wages and ultimately go nowhere. That's in large part because the higher education system is structured to take advantage of the fact people are passionate about their field and will sacrifice a lot to obtain a job, sucking in more people to do PhDs than there are academic jobs and them dangling the carrot of an eventual job in front of them in exchange for cheap teaching labor. Because some people do make it and the culture tells you that you have to persevere if you hope to be worthy of a tenure track position, it becomes very hard for people to judge whether they're chasing sunk costs or giving up on their life's ambition because they don't want it enough. I had to work hard, but was also lucky to get the position I have. One little decision or random event along the way and I could easily be still jumping from temporary contract to temporary contract not sure if I'm doing the right thing.
So, I can completely understand people buying into the whole Disney dream and not recognising the difference between sunk costs and perseverance in deciding to remain in their job. The culture people are describing here doesn't seem a world away from what I've seen in my own field.
