> It's not that they knew they would be the ones drawing the short straw, it's that I lack sympathy for people who vote for someone to hold the short straw, and then are upset when it's them.

People get lied to all the time. Often the liar is someone who lies by omission, such as telling people "here's a no-risk way to get 'easy money', just sign here" and neglects to mention long-term implications.

Now if you want to say something like, "well, they should've known better!" or "everyone knows fracking ends badly!", then that explains your self-proclaimed lack of sympathy.

To that I posit...

If one of your family members had this happen to them, would you have the same indifferent stance?

If your grandmother said, "I wanted the money to put into your daughter's college fund", would you still be devoid of sympathy?