Times where it's noted that Both Sides Have a Point in Literature.
- The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama use this trope as a cornerstone for much of its portrayal of the political landscape.
- The Berenstain Bears: In the novel The Berenstain Bear Scouts and the Sinister Smoke Ring, Farmer Ben is annoyed at a group of anti-smoking protestors, who vehemently oppose him growing tobacco plants on his farm, and insists that they have no right to protest on his property, while they insist he has no right to grow such a "filthy weed." In the end, the police defuse the situation using this trope, pointing out that while Ben is right that they have no right to protest on his property, they can do so all they want on the street away from it. On the protestors' end, the police also agree with them that Smoking Is Not Cool, but point out that tobacco is a legal crop, and Ben has every right to grow it on his farm if he wants.
- Black Crown: In the story 'Schism', both King Flavius and Lord Corrigan have a point depending on how you view a government's duty to its people.
- The Chosen (1997):
- Rashel and Quinn's experiences exemplify this regarding the vampires vs vampire hunters. Rashel thinks of vampires (and most other Night People) as evil, unfeeling monsters who prey on humans. It's unsurprising considering her traumatic background and the fact she regularly encounters vampires who are horrible monsters. Quinn sees humans are being just as awful as vampires, so why shouldn't vampires just take over? It's revealed this is because Quinn fell in love with a vampire girl named Dove, who was sweet, gentle and never harmed anyone. She was murdered by Quinn's father just for existing and he also tried to kill his own son without mercy; he also lived through the Burning Times where Night People were forced to go underground to protect themselves from persecution. Rashel and Quinn both start to realize that both sides have done pretty awful things to each other, continuing the Cycle of Revenge for centuries.
- Rashel comes to this conclusion regarding her views on the Night World and Circle Daybreak's views. She comes to agree that the Daybreakers are admirable for wanting a world where humans and Night People live together in peace, but she also feels that some of them are overly-idealistic because there are Night People out there who don't give a damn about changing the status quo, and are happy to hurt humans and other Night People to get their way. Rashel decides that this means there may be a place for people like her in Circle Daybreak, fighting back against monsters to protect people who can't fight themselves, by they a human or Night Person.
- John Wyndham tries to present this in the novella "Consider Her Ways" by asking the question, "Would women be better off if there were no men?" Two characters argue over this, with neither presented as being irrational or clearly wrong. The male-less society shown actually does seem pretty awful, thus implying the pro-men character is correct. However, her argument is that it's terrible that there's no romantic love any more, rather than pointing out that the post-gendercide society is a repressive caste-based dictatorship.
- The two rival families of Dance of the Butterfly work for, ostensibly, the same goal, though they have some vastly different methods of achieving it. Though it may be simple to categorize the Malkuths as evil, they put forward their methods as being ultimately utilitarian and thus for the greater good. Just don't get in their way as they try to save you.
- "The Dance of the Dragons", a historical civil war in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. Viserys I declares his daughter from his first marriage, Rhaneyra, as heir. However he continues proclaiming her heir despite having sons from his second marriage. When he dies Rhaenyra and her half-brother Aegon II fight for supremacy. They both have valid points. Viserys proclaimed Rhaenyra his heir and she is older then Aegon. On the other hand, proclaiming a daughter over a son goes completely against the succession laws most of Westeros works on. This is even more strict among the Kings, Viserys only becoming heir to the throne due to his female cousin Rhaenys being passed over (he's the son of the second son, while Rhaenys was daughter of the first son of King Jaehaerys I), a law which was decided upon in the Great Council of the Lords. It doesn't help that Rhaenyra is married to her uncle, the ruthless and amoral Daemon Targaryen, who doesn't at all look like someone who should hold power. However, both claimants show themselves to be poor and brutal rulers, and refuse to compromise: when Rhaneyra takes King's Landing she refuses the offer to call another Great Council to determine succession, along with both branches of the family murdering other members, Aegon's full brother Aemond murdering one of Rhanyra's sons Lucerys Velaryon, and Daemon avenging his stepsons murder by sending men to murder one of Aegon's infant sons. Ironically, due to Aegon's line dying out Rhaenyra's line gets the Iron Throne, but remains with strict male-line inheritance, Rhaenyra partly ruining her cause with her tyranny.
- Ash and Amy's argument in the middle of A Grimm Quest is this. On Amy’s side, she needs to be able to trust him to share information with her, especially if it relates to their survival. On Ash’s side, this isn’t something that either of them can change and he finds the reality of it soothing while he knew Amy would find it upsetting. Once they both explain their reasoning, they end up apologizing to each other.
- Harry Potter:
- There is tension between Molly and Sirius over how Harry should be treated. They do fiercely love Harry and want what's best for him, but they both make good points. Sirius disapproves of Molly's overprotective behavior towards Harry, who despite his young age, already proved he is brave and mature beyond his years. Meanwhile, Molly accuses Sirius of treating Harry like an adult, especially as though he has his best friend James back.
- In Goblet of Fire, the organizers of the Triwizard Tournament have a good reason for only allowing of-age students to participate. It ensures that the selected champions will have the necessary magical knowledge to complete the highly dangerous tasks. Their reasoning is proven sound when Cedric and Fleur can use the Bubble-Head Charm to breathe underwater in the second task, whereas Harry has to use Gillyweed stolen from Snape's potion supply (given to him by Dobby, no less) because he doesn't know about that spell. Conversely, Fred and George are rightly angered that Cedric, who is in the same year as them and has had the same exact education (though his school scores were almost certainly better), is allowed to put his name in the Goblet of Fire when they aren't just because his seventeenth birthday happened to fall before the entry deadline and theirs didn't.
- Also in Goblet of Fire, Harry is mildly annoyed when Hagrid, Moody and Sirius tell him off for going to talk with Krum near the Forbidden Forest, where Crouch appeared and disappeared, and someone Stunned Viktor. Mainly, he's insulted on Krum's behalf because both Sirius and Hagrid suspect that Krum was trying to sabotage Harry before the Third Task. He points out that Krum just wanted to clarify if Harry and Hermione were an item, and that if Krum wanted to attack him then the other guy would have done so already. Not to mention that the person that attacked Krum and kidnapped Crouch waited until Harry was gone, meaning Harry wasn't the target. Hermione, despite liking Krum, also admits that the adults have a right to be concerned. She says that they don't know who put Harry into the tournament, and if the mysterious person wants him dead, then they will take the best possible opportunity.
- The Sheriff of Nottingham is able to do this to himself in In A Dark Wood, Michael Cadnum's Good Versus Good retelling of Robin Hood. Halfway through the book, he is able to recognize that although Robin Hood is an outlaw, he is also a good man. It isn't until the end of the book that he is able to find a point of reconciliation between this and his duty to uphold the law.
- The central conflict of The Infected is about the role of the titular Infected (basically, mutants) in society. Many of the objections to the Infected seem rooted in religion and reflexive xenophobia at first, however, the Infected really are unstable (each has an individualized mental disorder called a 'first mode') and dangerous. A major plot point in the first book was how Melanie Miller, a nine-year-old girl, almost destroys North America through a bad case of Power Incontinence, and murderous rampages are an almost weekly occurrence. On the other hand, the Infected are certainly correct to be concerned when kids are shot in the street for glowing, sudden mobs turn up when visibly Infected eat out or run to the store, and Congress is debating "concentrating" the Infected population in special camps.
- In Daniel Keys Moran's "The Last Dancer", in 2076 America is controlled by the United Nations, and is about to stage the 2nd American Revolution. The leader of the UN forces speaks to his troops about how the world is safer and better with a powerful world government for most people even though some oppression does occur, while the leader of the American revolutionary forces speaks to her troops about the need for self-government and freedom. They are both right, and the leader of the UN forces (Mohammed Vance) is portrayed as a ruthless but honorable man who honestly regrets the killing that he has and will order.
- From the moment that she learns her adoptive parents are in La Résistance in Leia, Princess of Alderaan, a teenaged Leia Organa wrestles with the morality of rebelling against The Empire. It's evil and she soon understands that little change can be enacted from within, but it's also massive and vengeful. Going against it is risky and people will be hurt or killed in the attempt. She tells Kier, another Alderaanian who hates the Empire, about her parents' efforts and he blanches - he does think something should be done but Alderaan is safe and if Bail and Breha are caught, dire consequences will fall on the planet and everyone on it, Rebel or not. Eventually Leia decides the risk, however terrible, is worth it. Kier doesn't, choosing Alderaan over the rest of the galaxy tries to turn the Rebellion in in the hopes of sparing their homeworld, an effort that he doesn't survive. Bail tells Leia that Kier wasn't wrong exactly. Leia, feeling betrayed, doesn't agree.
- The Parental Marriage Veto that caused all the agony in Persuasion. Anne Elliot was persuaded not to marry young Captain Fredrick Wentworth by her godmother Lady Russell. Anne has come to deeply regret this, having been subsumed by her family troubles and never finding a man equal to him. And to say Wentworth was mad is a gross understatement. However, Lady Russell, though a little prejudiced towards the gentry, did have a point that young Wentworth was Unable to Support a Wife. Anne's father would certainly not have helped them, and Wentworth's assumption that he'd capture enough prizes to secure their comfort was rather naive. There was no guarantee a newly-maded captain in the Napoleonic Wars would even survive, much less strike it rich, and that Wentworth's optimism bore fruit was mostly a matter of luck.
- Sleeping Beauties: In the final conflict. The "good guys", Clint Nocross, and his followers, made a deal with Eve Black that Clint would keep her alive till a designated time, and in return Eve would wake up the women (on the condition that they chose to return to the waking world). So they put the prison in lockdown mode and refuse to let anyone in to talk to or even see Eve. Clint also correctly fears that there might be men out there in Dooling who want to kill Eve because they hope it will wake up all the women or simply because they want a scapegoat when she proves unable to wake up their sleeping loved ones. On the other hand, you can't entirely blame their opponents, who want to get their hands on Eve, either. The men of Dooling are desperate to find a cure for their loved ones and believe Eve to be the key to finding one (which is technically true, though not in the way they think since Eve can't end Aurora entirely by herself). Their leader, Frank Geary, is correct about the fact that Norcross has no authority to put the prison in lockdown, and is at first willing to let Judge Silver bring in a professional negotiator to try and resolve the conflict peacefully. And of course, Norcross refusal to let anyone near Eve only makes him look suspicious. Eve only makes it worse by outright telling Frank he has to kill her.
- Viceroy's Pride: Pretty much everyone except the Orakh.
- The Tellask are right that the Orakh need to be fought—many humans volunteer for their army. But using humans as expendable cannon fodder isn't the solution, and it's clear that the Tellask are more interested in making sure the humans don't become strong enough to threaten them than making sure they can actually fight the Orakh.
- The US military is right in that the Thoth Foundation is hoarding secrets, but considering that they flat-out dismiss the reports about magic and traveling to another world, Ibis can't be blamed for not trying to keep them in the loop.
- The Thoth Foundation is right that the world needs to be united, but having Ibis conquer it using elite troops enslaved by nanites is not the answer.
