People deserve respect regardless of their job. I don't understand where this apathy of yours stems from.
It comes from the fact that it is difficult to empathize with a person who has the option to solve the problem and does not, and continues to complain about it. We can take Lacrymas' example of a woman in an abusive relationship. You see this woman going through the problem, she comes to you, talks about what she is going through, how much she suffers, and that her boyfriend is terrible with her. Etc, etc. You, like every normal, empathetic human being, say that this must be very sad indeed. And you ask her why she is still with him, after all, she could end this relationship and seek another person. But then she says no, she doesn't want another relationship. She wants this relationship. She wants her abusive boyfriend to magically turn into someone else and treat her well.
And this is where empathy goes away.
It's not that the person is being a victim of a situation without options, it's that they're actively choosing to stay in that situation and keep complaining about what they're suffering. Yes, all human beings deserve to be treated fairly, with dignity and honesty. But when you knowingly and voluntarily choose to stay in a situation (or with someone) that does this to you, when you have the option to leave and don't do it, it's not surprising that people stop empathizing, and begin to think that you are masochistic or retarded. And yes, for one part of society, this situation is justified - the part that really has no option left, whether it's the woman who moved to live alone overseas with her boyfriend and has no money or support group (so she's really stuck in that situation), or for people without training or skills who are working in an awful job in a country with high unemployment rate, so the option would often be to starve in the street.
But that's not the case with people who work with game development. And I say that as someone who lives in a shit third world country.