Colin, I understand your distress so allow me to alleviate some it for you.

Healing is thankless. From 1-80, you're not going to be expected to heal anything; those few players you work with aren't going to care what you do as long as you do it with minimal displayed capability.

Leveling can be a nightmare...if you're masochistic enough to try heal your way to 80, however solo questing while listening to music or podcasts with a half decent smite build or shadow spec will see you 80 before you know it.

Glorified whack-a-mole. Really, healing is like that, but some people like whack-a-mole a whole lot too.

Buff, buff and buff. 3.2.2 = Fort scrolls + others, all buffing classes(excepting certain cases) will essentially have all non-improved stationary buff utility nullified.

Some mind control required. Priests only have to do this once, ever. Suck it up.

Survivability is a question mark. Except for the fact that we have damage absorbing shields, heal over time and direct heal spells, aoe fear, fear ward, and any number of racial abilities.

First target. Hitting some battlegrounds or PvPing in general? If the opposition finds out you're on the other team, expect to attract some attention. If it feels as if though there's a giant, neon, flashing "kill me now" sign floating above your head with an arrow pointing downwards, it's a hunter. If you're playing one-man-army or standing still at the back healing, good luck. At least with a group you're alive a few seconds longer.

Where's the damage? At the top of the charts, along with every other class when played with the relevant amount of skill/knowledge/gear.

Chain Heal. The days of Circle of Healing dominance is over. Raid healing now requires more than one button. Rejoice! Now we can share raid healing duty with other classes fairly.

Confusing stats. Cataclysm isn't here yet. As with every other class the stat weightings that determine each ones usefulness compared to the others shifts and changes depending on spec and gear. The basic breakdowns however are easily accessible here http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t29453-combat_ratings_level_80_a/ so you can make some form of informed decision on your gear, ignore the math, focus on the numbers in the tables. Can't wait for cataclysm!

Power Infusion...what's power infusion?

Hang up the plow and the pitch fork. Roll playing a farmer won't make you any gold. Instead play the auction house, buy materials cheap. use your professions to craft useful in demand items, sell. You can also get out that smite button or shadow spec and complete some dailies, run the daily dungeons, complete daily profession quests, gather materials, etc.

There you have it! Roll a Priest! They're exceptionally strong healers! Try having some fun as Shadow instead! I hear their leveling game is much more enjoyable. I mean, they do melt faces. Alternatively, try playing a Warlock! True, they're based on DOTs and direct damage like priests, fear like priests, can't heal, and sure they're the same spell type for the most part, but they can use fire if specced right! But Priests? Oh man, they're so hard to manage and maintain because we're special unique flowers, just like every one else.

Note: With the exception of the original artical, all the points were made with complete seriousness.