It really does depend on what you mean by the word "Trust"? The dictionary gives a host of meanings, and even within those meanings there are a further list of subjective interpretations.
There have been two analogies to "whores" so far. However at the basic level there seems to be little to differentiate any two people hiring out their skills and talents for monetary reward, that would make the analogy particulary noteworthy.
Protection is a basic human necessity, and it follows that can best be achieved if others we find ourselves in a group with, are not perceived as a threat to that protection. That is fairly easy when there is a common threat, not so easy when the threat is targetted or specific.
So the seemingly simple question "do you trust your colleagues?" Becomes much more difficult when you start to define the word trust, or ask in what context is the word being used.
Would I trust my colleagues to do their job to the best of their ability? Yes, but that trust isn't so absolute that their actions are not questioned, or cross checked.
Would I trust them to put my interests above their own, or that of their children or families? No, that would be an unusual and normally unnatural hierarchy of priorities.
Would I trust them with a confidence? Yes and no. Some would have demonstrated a higher level of discretion than others. In some cases that "trust" would prove misplaced.
Would I trust them to refuse an opportunity on the basis that it would be in any way unfair to others? No, some might, but that wouldn't generally satisfy their concern, nor would it satisfy an average level of human competitive behaviour.
This industry isn't any more "sick, selfish or shallow," than broadly any other. It is commercial business, with all that entails. It relies on human participation with all the inherent components of competitiveness, greed, pride, achievement, success, failure, ambition, fear, desire, etc. These ingredients will be mixed in millions of different ways to formulate the make up of the individual participants to the business.
If the businesses themselves and the individuals within them are operating in a predatory environment, then they will seek protection. That protection is usually found in size or numbers. Mergers, consolidations, partnerships, alliances, groups, unions, associations, gangs! It is the perception of safety that is sought and offered. The reality may be vastly different, and the vast array of individual personalities within the group will not significantly change though. Such groupings might well prove effective at affording a better level of protection, but the idea that there will be any homogenization of the individual personalities involved (including your own,) would be very erroneous.
There seems to be a surprising number of people that fail to see the competitive and predatory nature of business. Similarly with the fact that they have a skill or talent that is only of value if somebody else wants to buy it. That the skill or talent is still subject to the laws of supply and demand, and that the competition will do whatever it takes to capture that business from them.
Trust like many things in life is a measured and valuable commodity, to be used wisely and carefully. Often it is an overworked and misused word employed as a sticking plaster over the wounds of the naive and unlucky.