I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that when you refer to the "usual people on here who bash the profession," you're including me. I have never once bashed optometry. I've bashed its stability. I've pointed out its failed leadership. I've talked about how barren the profession will be for those entering it now, but I've never once bashed optometry.
There's nothing wrong with optometrists. The problem is the profession and how it's being driven into the ground. It's a sum of all effects that makes optometry a bad bet. All health care fields are going to be squeezed in the coming years, but optometry is one of the least prepared to weather the storm, and instead of boarding up the windows and gathering supplies, it's rollerblading on the boardwalk.
It's your situation that I'm trying to prevent. You guys don't get it. I have a life. I have kids, a wife, friends, a business to run, so why I am I on here? Do I get some sort of bizarre satisfaction from posting the realities of optometry on SDN? No - I got screwed over by the many people who stood to profit by my entry into the profession. On a regular basis, they lie, distort, and cover up the abysmal outlook that optometry has for its newcomers, and its nauseating.
Welcome to the club of people who see optometry for what it really is, instead of what it's portrayed to be.