As a 5'4" man, I've always chuckled at the "height doesn't matter" posts. They almost always come from people who aren't short themselves. I am also frustrated/amused by all the "I know this one guy who is like 5'2"-5'5" who always gets laid" comments which are more often than not probably bullshit and the fucker doesn't even exist.

But I think there's a third option: doublethink. You know, the Orwellian concept from 1984 where citizens would fully accept Oceania's propaganda while knowing deep down it wasn't true? In that case, it was an entirely negative concept. But it is also useful. As other posters mentioned: it's not good to naively assume height doesn't matter, unless you're only maybe an inch or two below average, in which case, you might just have shitty game or not take care of yourself. That leads to complacency. You do have to accept that your height will be a negative, no matter what other positive qualities you have. You have to maximize your aesthetics (hygiene, well-groomed hair, muscles, good clothes), social status, and game to outweigh it. But assuming you're doing all you can in all the ways you can control then you should absolutely delude yourself to an extent into thinking height doesn't matter. Because by that point, it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. As another poster said, the point is that it's a useful lie, with "useful" as the keyword.

On another note, I think the reason so many people throw around "height doesn't matter" is to get those who have already rejected themselves off their asses. The short, ugly, fat guy may get rejected far more than even an average guy, but the short, ugly, fat guy who goes out and approaches girls and doesn't give a fuck will surely have more success with women than the one who wallows in his sorrows and consigns himself to solitude in a life of masturbatory activities such as video games, porn, and drugs.