Well, all I can say is there are plenty of anal-retentive aviators at our airline.
Yes and they're out there saving commercial aviation every day one departure at a time. That said, I do respect the right of the crews to refuse such separation although the manner in which it was done likely needs work as many of us need better table manners. I will say that outside of RW 27, MEM rarely asks us if we have the preceding traffic insight when they put us into position, so it may not be surprising that a subsequent separation situation resulted in some saltiness. Other airports that do this regularly seem to be far more routine about asking if the preceding traffic is in sight, giving ample time for the safety award winners to refuse the visual separation.