I guess since you weren't around before ToAU you don't know how bad it used to be for SMN. The way I got to 75 was by main healing. Back then, avatars barely did anything, there was no split between rage and ward, and we were expected to heal and do nothing else. The stigma is still there.

If you are playing SMN in a support capacity, you need to be healing. SMN have an incredible pool of MP and not using that is harmful to your alliance. Often times BLMs need to focus on nuking specific mobs and keeping others asleep. Asking them to also cure themselves is often too much. I don't know how many BLMs you have worked with, but the point is SMN should be the one curing, ESPECIALLY if we are in avatar favor mode. We shouldn't be attacking because that resets the favor tic counter, and there isn't much else to do at that point.

Even if you are right, and the BLM should be curing, the point still stands. If a mob is asleep and I am getting hate, my avatar should NOT go attack it unless I say to attack it. It's a big problem.