"why do I keep reading this kind of whiney rhetoric from atheists as though they are some little band of out-numbered, persecuted freedom fighters for truth."

Of course, what you hear can only be a tiny amount compared with the extremely shrill and pervasive rhetoric of the wacko religious right, pretending they are the arbiters of all truth and passing judgment on those who disagree (even though their Lord commands them not to judge), without offering a shred of credible evidence to support their faith ... EVER.