I don't think I would see this in any other industry, or at least not to the extent that it exists in ours. It's not passion, enthusiasm, or ambition - this is obsessive behaviour, plain and simple. Where does one finish and the other start? Name me one other profession that people spend as much on training for an ATPL in the full knowledge that less than half of them will make it, please? How many times have you heard "it is my dream", or "I have spent X on this and can't believe I haven't a job?" Others glory in the masochistic fashion in which they finally broke into the industry, everyone has their war storys, and you praise spouses for putting up with what people should not have to put up with, saying they understand and support what you're doing, they knew this when they married you, etc.
Have you ever noticed that it's always someone else who's ruining the industry? And you complain that the industry takes advantage of you? Is it the flying schools fault that they fill you full of crap about how many jobs are out there, or is it your fault for not questioning it because they are telling you what you want to hear? Is it Ryanair's fault for treating you like dirt, or is it your fault because you are rationalising somone taking advantage of you?
You can't complain you don't know thanks to people like scroggs who tirelessly make sense, but know they are talking to themselves. I had an intelligent, talented schoolfriend who ended up a literal basketcase because he was obsessed about being a lawyer and never made it. I had another schoolfriend who left a good job with good prospects to join the army because he had some ad-induced notion of running around the Glen of Imaal with rifle in hand and the sun glinting off his helmet - he lasted 2 weeks, and came home jobless. The best you could say for those 2 guys is that neither ran up a huge debt or hurt anybody else in doing what they did, as they were both single.
Please don't take this personally, it's meant to be a counterpoint. There is a big difference between a wannabe and a lemming - I think it's sad that some of the best pilots had enough cop-on given the circumstances to stop at a ppl and just enjoy it.