On Whininess (Whiny-ness?)

This is not the giant post that's coming, it's just a stray thought that I thought would be worth publishing.

I was reading a little earlier the blog of a Nice Young Lady Natalie Reed, and specifically her post ''Shut Up, That's Why'' - A Follow Up. Most of it's not relevant to the bit I was going to talk about so copied and pasted below are the relevant portions:

"    Atheists are so whiny.Just like the feminists. And the gays, with their demands for special rights. And the civil rights marchers. And the suffragettes. And the abolitionists.

For all the hundreds of times I’ve been confronted with this argument used to try to dismiss or silence some kind of advocacy, I have never ever been given a decent, consistent, workable definition for what is “whining” vs. what is a legitimate criticism or voicing of concern. It seems the only real distinction is whether you agree with the objection or not...Honestly, I would be happy to see the words “whining”, “whine” and “whiny” removed from the language entirely. I’ve almost never seen them used in a productive way. It’s like they were specifically designed for the purpose of trivializing and dismissing the pain, struggle or objections of others. It’s the ultimate red flag for knowing when you’re dealing with a “Shut Up, That’s Why”."

A dog will whine when it is uncomfortable - too cold, too hungry, feeling trapped, lonely, scared, harassed, restricted. The whining is there to tell you that something is wrong. It's an important social mechanism. Dismiss it as playing on your affections for sympathy and/or other rewards (or 'chancing one's arm' as it's known in Scotland) and you run the risk of ignoring an actual concern. You have to use judgement in every case, and not to have a blanket response. 

People whine too, when things are wrong. If the roast you just got served is cold, you ask the waiter if you could have it warmed up, instead of eating the damned thing like a bloody martyr and then complaining to your wife who can't do anything about it - I'm sure we've all seen something like this. I have a cousin who specialises in it. (You don't have to as polite as to quietly ask for moar temperatures, but then I'm British. You could stand up, scream your head off, spit on it and storm out. I think that would all be quite legal. I think you could legally ask to see the chef and ask him "What the hell do you think you're playing at, serving me this cold food, please justify your failure?") It's feedback - the chef needs to know that he's sent out something cold that's not supposed to be, so that if he's got a professional attitude, he can correct whatever's wrong with his kitchen mechanism, or if he doesn't, then he will at least know that at least one person knew he wasn't doing his job well enough and maybe, if he gets enough negative feedback, will either shape up or ship out.

Same with life in general. Complaining, protesting, making a fuss, causing a kerfuffle, throwing a wobbly, and most importantly, doing it within the earshot of a relevant person, is crucial, absolutely necessary, if you want anything to change. Don't tip the waitress if she's not doing her job. Tell people when they're doing wrong. 

In summary:

It seems to me that people either: 

a) Do their job as best they can, notice and correct any flaws, 

b) Do their job as best they can but fail to notice and/or correct any flaws 

c) Don't care whether they do their job well or not, but somehow still make few enough errors to get by (this is rare) or

 d) Don't care whether they do their job well or not, and get away with whatever is the minimal effort

In any of these cases, being whiny and telling someone if you have noticed a flaw in their work is important: if they do care, this person will find it useful to be made aware of a flaw that they hadn't noticed, because they can then correct it and make their work better, or seek help to correct it if they can't on their own. If they don't care, then at least they will know that someone has noticed and won't put up with their unprofessional shenanigans. So be like a dog, run the risk of being thought a chancer (at least as a human being you have the opportunity to refuse remuneration) and tell someone if you're pissed off.

What do you think?