Both Sides Have a Point: Difference between revisions

Alice is faced with two different opinions: Bob strongly believes in one thing, and Charlie in another. The easiest choice would be to simply pick a side-- decideside—decide that Bob is right or that Charlie is right. But Alice won't do that. The second easiest choice would be to simply remain neutral and urge them to [[Agree to Disagree]]. But Alice won't do that either. And she will neither [[No Except Yes|pretend that the two opposing views are actually the same thing]], nor [[From a Certain Point of View|conclude that it's merely a matter of perspective]]. Finally, she will not engage in some extreme mental acrobatics, [[Doublethink|simultaneously but separately agreeing with both opposing views]].

Contrast [[What Is Evil?]], which is an aversion of this trope: The villain tries to invoke [['''Both Sides Have a Point]]''', but it is made clear to the audience that he [[Strawman Political|does not, in fact, have any valid point whatsoever]] and the protagonist is also very unlikely to listen. This aversion is much simpler than playing the trope straight, and is thus far more common - especially in action stories where the audience wants to see big fights and will likely find a valid moral debate to be a boring disruption. Also contrast [[Culture Justifies Anything]], where it's very likely that at least one side does in fact not have any valid point.