Insults yield positive results, with this person

[skreidle]

silicates, in response to being called "evil" by the FreeRepublic.:

I enjoy being called evil. It keeps me on my toes, and forces me to constantly reevaluate my actions. It's part of the reason I love to read the Cornell Review. Perhaps I'm sick and masochistic, but then again, here are the benefits:

• Being called intolerant forces me to reexamine my tolerance of different people (I dislike everyone equally until I get to know them) and different ideas.


• Being called biased forces me to reexamine the motivations behind my actions, and to strive for a more pure (both logically and emotionally) way of interacting with the world around me, leaving behind my preconceptions and taking on each thing as it occurs.


• Being accused of holding grudges forces me to give an accounting of my actions and words to myself, and to explain my thoughts and feelings and the logic or illogic thereof.


• Being called deceptive forces me to reexamine my tactics and rhetoric. (It also forces me to reexamine your behavior, which shows far more evidence of deception. One begins to wonder why it's a theme with you to accuse everyone of deception.)


• Being called a liar forces me to lay out my proof and make sure it's all in order.


• Being called a perfectionist forces me to remember that perfectionism is a bad, insidious force in my life, preventing me from doing the best I actually can.


• Being called illogical forces me to adhere more stringently to the rules of logic. Alas, if only my opponents were more willing to reciprocate!

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A very positive way to handle it..

Comments

[evelynne.livejournal.com]

Hm... I think I've thought that way a few times.

I have, in the past, looked very carefully at myself based on other people's criticisms of me. In some cases, I decide that they're right and try to tone down the behavior. For example, some people think that I am too bluntly honest, so I have tried to be more diplomatic. At the very least, I can say that insults cause me to re-examine my behavior, although in many cases I choose not to alter it, believing I had a good reason for it.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

In retrospect, I have too, so I edited the post.

Your description of how you handle it is pretty close to how I perceive myself doing the same, actally.

[tyler1968.livejournal.com]

It's a good list. An unexamined life isn't worth living.