Why should we accept compliments as the truth but accept insults as lies?

Why should we accept compliments as the truth but accept insults as lies?

Why should we accept compliments as the truth but accept insults as lies? Self-help books, quotes on the Internet, and average people in everyday life, often try to comfort those who have been severely insulted by saything things like: "They're just saying that because they're jealous," "They're just trying to bring you down because they're unhappy with their lives," "They don't know what they're talking about," and my favorite, "What people say about you says more about who they are than who you are." These sort of statements invalidate the insult, giving the insulted person no real reason to be upset. However, if all that is true, what about all the times that we have been complimented? They could very well falsely be trying to "bring you up" for whatever reason, it's still possible they don't know what they're talking about, and if it says more about them than it does about you, then good for them for being a "good person," but it really has nothing to do with you. But this isn't what we're told. We're told to be grateful for any compliment we receive. We're told to take them with pride, not shame. We're told that maybe if we get a certain compliment a lot, like being good at painting, then that's a determining factor in what our talents are, and even take it into consideration when choosing a career path, like becoming a professional painter. Some people even recommend writing down any "positive message" you receive in a journal, so when you're feeling down on yourself you can look through it and suddenly remember your self worth. If you think about it, a compliment and an insult are basically the same thing: somebody else's opinion of us. Are supposed to disregard something just because we don't like it? Wouldn't it make more sense to treat both kinds of statements as equals, and either accept both as being true or accept neither as being true? Of course, always thinking that an insult is true or always thinking that a compliment is false sounds like a pessimistic extreme, but wouldn't doing that make the most sense? Why should we accept compliments as the truth but insults as lies?

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