History StrawmanHasAPoint / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': In "Beginnings", when they meet up again, Jaya tells Wan that he and his fellow villagers attack any spirit they see just as the spirits attack any human they meet, yet he is presented as being in the wrong.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': In the episode "Men at Work", Skeet, the employee of the month at a local [[BurgerFool McSpanky's]], is depicted as an idiot who can't understand that Jimmy's memorized the prices and can calculate the tax and change in his head, so he doesn't actually need to use a cash register to take orders. However, [[DumbassHasAPoint Skeet is absolutely right to object]]. While cash registers are used to keep track of prices and tax, they're also used to provide a physical record of financial transactions both for budget and inventory purposes, as well as providing customers with a receipt. Plus, employees stealing an extra dollar from the register every so often isn't unheard of in the fast-food industry, and if there's no record of transactions at all...

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In "Leela and The Genestalk", Mom is used as a caricature of companies producing [=GMOs=]. This episode (along with others) have made it clear she's very, very obviously OnlyInItForTheMoney, but she makes a number of valid points showing that in this instance her genetic engineering is actually good for everyone. Leela brushes all her arguments off with "we have no idea what the long-term effects might be," but never suggests what any of those possible issues would be. Unlike most examples, however, the episode is ambiguous enough that you can interpret it differently: Leela instantly gives up her morals when presented with a cure for her disease fitting in with similar RealLife examples, i.e. a prominent member of PETA who uses insulin derived from animal products for her diabetes, while arguing animals shouldn't be used to cure other diseases.

** Although huge numbers of fans hated the episode "No Such Luck" due to the cruel treatment given to Lincoln by his family, it can be said that the episode, in the dark way it was conceived, has two valuable lessons. The first is that superstition is idiocy, and that taking this talk of luck and bad luck seriously can actually have devastating consequences (see the Salem witch burnings or the indiscriminate hunting of the aye-aye). The second is that lying is never healthy, and that the best weapon to solve problems is always dialogue.
*** Besides, while the family's decision to evict Lincoln from their home is condemnable, there is no denying that they did so with the well-being of all in mind, while Lincoln, in helping to spread the rumor that he brought bad luck, acted selfishly, looking out only for his own well-being.

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': In "[[Recap/KingOfTheHillS13E1DiaBillIcShock Dia-Bill-Ic Shock]]", Bill is diagnosed with diabetes after gorging on junk food and collapsing from a blood sugar spike, and a few days later hospitalized after gorging on junk food ''again'' and having another blood sugar spike. The doctor who sees him is a [[DrJerk major jerkass]] who brushes off the nurse's suggestion of nutritional counseling, assumes Bill to be a lost cause, and tells him that he will inevitably lose his legs to gangrene and may as well get a wheelchair while he has good insurance. While his behavior would get a RealLife doctor in hot water, his attitude was at least slightly understandable. Bill was advised to eat right and exercise, which lasted for less than a week. And then on his hospital paperwork, Bill wrote "Jell-O" under "Are you taking any medications?" to remind himself to ask for it. Any doctor would conclude that getting Bill to make any meaningful lifestyle changes would be an uphill battle.

** In the same episode and immediately after the above, Jimmy insists on referring to some spilled salt as "sodium chloride". While we're supposed to think Skeet is an idiot for not understanding what Jimmy means, most people don't refer to salt as sodium chloride in a non-chemistry context, and those who ''do'' refer to it by its scientific name in normal conversation tend to come off as pretentious - like Jimmy does. In addition, salt commonly found in establishments such as [=McSpanky's=] is not ''just'' sodium chloride, containing trace amounts of iodine compounds such as sodium iodate and potassium iodate in order to prevent deficiencies of the element. So, not only is Jimmy being pretentious about calling iodized table salt "sodium chloride", but he also incorrectly referred to the salt by a fraction of what it actually is.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': In the episode "Men at Work", Skeet, the employee of the month at a local [[BurgerFool McSpanky's]], is depicted as an idiot who can't understand that Jimmy's memorized the prices and can calculate the tax and change in his head, so he doesn't actually need to use a cash register to take orders. However, Skeet is absolutely right to object. While cash registers are used to keep track of prices and tax, they're also used to provide a physical record of financial transactions both for budget and inventory purposes, as well as providing customers with a receipt. Plus, employees stealing an extra dollar from the register every so often isn't unheard of in the fast-food industry, and if there's no record of transactions at all...
** In the same episode, Jimmy insists on referring to some spilled salt as "Sodium Chloride". While we're supposed to think Skeet is an idiot for not understanding what Jimmy means, most people don't refer to salt as Sodium Chloride in a non-chemistry context, and those who ''do'' refer to it by its scientific name in normal conversation tend to come off as pretentious - like Jimmy does.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'', a group of MoralGuardians lobby to put a ban on skateboarding, biking, running, and rough-housing on the boardwalk and pier after Merv Stimpleton steps on a skateboard and falls down. They're depicted as strawmen, but if you ask anyone who lives in a similar town, such bans often do exist in areas with lots of pedestrians for safety purposes. Ray acknowledges this later in the episode; he points out that regardless of Mr. Stimpleton's DisproportionateRetribution, the kids did hurt him and hadn't apologized, and Otto and co. are far more concerned about their fun than someone getting hurt. After Violet even points out one of the reasons people were skateboarding or biking on the pier was because there was nowhere "safe and friendly" the resolution to the issue ends up being a surprising reasonable compromise, as a skate park is opened to [[TakeAThirdOption give the skaters somewhere to have fun without troubling regular passers-by]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGroovenians'' has the BigBad tell the artistic heroes that nothing in life is free and that they have to pay bills if they want to stay in their new home. This is presented as corporate greed and the villains making life harder for the heroes, but what he's saying is an absolute fact of life: a great majority of people, if any, can't just coast through life doing as they please and need to make concessions (like making money to pay bills) in order to do the things they love.

** Although fans hated "No Such Luck" due to the cruel treatment given to Lincoln by his family, it can be said that the episode, in the dark way it was conceived, has two valuable lessons. The first is that superstition is idiocy, and that taking this talk of luck and bad luck seriously can actually have devastating consequences (see the Salem witch burnings or the indiscriminate hunting of the aye-aye). The second is that lying is never healthy, and that the best weapon to solve problems is always dialogue.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyMakeYourMark'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyMakeYourMarkS4E2TopRemodel Top Remodel]]", Sprout claiming Canterlogic was still his despite being since abandoned and the heroes converting it into Canterlove Studios was supposed to be dismissed as him being unrepentant for his wrongdoings in ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyANewGeneration A New Generation]]''. But Sprout's argument that the property still belongs to his family was unintentionally valid as [[ArtisticLicenseLaw it's never addressed if/how it legally changed ownership after shutting down]], as would be his antagonism to the [[DesignatedHero "heroes" who'd be stealing his property]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'':
** It was a trap, and King is understandably annoyed when [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEdaClawthorne Eda Clawthorne]] decides to gamble for the Elixir, but she had a point. Tibbles was charging more for the elixir than she had in her wallet, and the other choice was to go full Owl Beast.

* Stan Smith of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' is often portrayed as a bigoted, self-serving sociopath who causes havoc over even the slightest problems. However, given that he lives in a CrapsackWorld where half the cast are almost as bad as he is, he actually often has a good reason to be annoyed (e.g. his ControlFreak in-laws taking over his house uninvited, his wife becoming a surrogate mother behind his back, ''any'' disagreement he has with either Hayley or Roger); it's just that his depraved overzealousness causes him to take much nastier measures that gives the other side the higher moral ground.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "The Last Mabelcorn", a unicorn judges Mabel by claiming to be able to "see into her heart" and determines that she's not pure. It is later revealed to be a lie to get humans to leave her alone, but the unicorn brings up a good argument that [[SecretlySelfish doing good deeds for the sole sake of making yourself look better is actually rather self-centered]]. The unicorn ends up being RightForTheWrongReasons, considering all the morally-questionable actions that Mabel has done over the course of the series despite her kindness -- at one point being [[WhatTheHellHero called out]] by the BigBad himself.

** It was a trap, and King is understandably annoyed when Eda decides to gamble for the Elixir, but she had a point. Tibbles was charging more for the elixir than she had in her wallet, and the other choice was to go full Owl Beast.
** Kikimora is a SmugSnake and a lackey for Belos, but she has a right to snicker when Lilith can't even take down an annoying house demon. Heck, Amity was able to beat up Hooty without suffering injury and Luz can punch him in the face. Even Eda says the same thing, mocking Lilith for not being able to beat her at her worst.
** In the first episode, the principal and Camila make the point that Luz needs to be more normal and appreciate the difference between fantasy and reality, an idea Luz and the episode reject by declaring it's okay for people to be weird. However, Luz's brand of weirdness isn't harmless with her 'book report' resulting in several people being bitten by snakes and the subsequent episode has Luz put herself in danger because she's too invested in her TheChosenOne fantasy to notice several warning signs.

*** Besides, while the family's decision to evict Lincoln from their home is condemnable, there is no denying that they did so with the well-being of all in mind, while Lincoln, in helping to spread the rumor that he brought bad luck, acted selfishly, looking only for your own well-being.

* This was a frequent occurrence on ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}'' with Wheeler, who was portrayed usually as an arrogant and obnoxious jerk and hence always wrong, despite the fact that he often made sense. In "Wheeler's Ark", he was mocked and declared selfish due to his opposition to keeping endangered and injured animals picked up in the group's travels on Hope Island, despite the fact that not taking exotic species out of their natural habitat is a perfectly valid GreenAesop on its own. In fact, the earlier episode "Trouble on the Half Shell" focused on the problems that can result when species are brought into new environments. This is not the only example. He has been "wrong" to espouse two entirely contradictory positions in two separate episodes ("Population Bomb" and "Numbers Game") and was somehow wrong both times -- even when the episodes came to the ''same'' conclusion.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E14TheItchyAndScratchyAndPoochieShow The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show]]", Comic Book Guy declares the episode of Itchy and Scratchy introducing Poochie to be the worst episode ever, saying "As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me." Bart (clearly acting as an AuthorAvatar speaking to the fans who had been complaining about the show's SeasonalRot) responds with "How do they owe you? They provide you with hundreds of hours of entertainment for free. If anything you owe them." Except loyal viewers make advertising space on a show valuable, and the people who work on a show owe their success and livelihood to the money that the advertisers pay -- to say nothing of merchandise. Plus Comic Book Guy's appraisal of the episode's quality wasn't just picking nits or unreasonable complaints; it really was [[StylisticSuck a terrible episode,]] and much of the story hinges on that fact. Comic Book Guy is just the only person who's treated as wrong for saying it.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E13SaddlesoreGalactica Saddlesore Galactica]]", Lisa's school band competes in a battle of the bands competition. An opposing band from Ogdenville uses glowsticks and wins, even though visual aids were expressly forbidden. Lisa spends the rest of the episode appealing to higher powers until then-President Bill Clinton nullifies the verdict and declares her the winner. Lisa's outrage is justified as the Ogdenville band won despite breaking the rules, as well as her appealing to higher figures, since the competition judge doesn't care about the rules violation and brushes her off when she complains. Even if it wasn't meant maliciously, Ogdenville broke the rules and should have been disqualified.
** There's also Birch Barlow, a Creator/RushLimbaugh {{Expy}} who is presented as a radical conservative who puts emotion over rationality in order make liberalism look as bad as possible. But despite his extreme views, all of his accusations against Mayor Quimby are in fact true, other than him no longer being illiterate.
** When Comic Book Guy said the episode of Itchy and Scratchy in which they added Poochie was the worst episode ever he said "As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me." Bart (clearly acting as an AuthorAvatar speaking to the fans who had been complaining about the show's SeasonalRot) said "How do they owe you? They provide you with hundreds of hours of entertainment for free. If anything you owe them." Except loyal viewers make advertising space on a show valuable, and the people who work on a show owe their success and livelihood to the money that the advertisers pay -- to say nothing of merchandise. So trying to make Comic Book Guy look like an EntitledBastard for voicing his opinion when a show he used to enjoy started to suck because of ExecutiveMeddling, didn't really work. For that matter, Comic Book Guy's appraisal of the episode's quality wasn't just picking nits or unreasonable complaints; it really was [[StylisticSuck a terrible episode,]] and much of the story hinges on that fact. Comic Book Guy is just the only person who's treated as wrong for saying it.
** In "Four Great Women and a Manicure", the preschool teacher wants to squash Maggie's creativity. Most of what Maggie uses seems to be reusable (except the sugar cubes), but many preschools don't have the same resources. The teacher could have said that she is monopolizing resources and should learn to share, that she could learn to be creative with fewer resources, or she could be teaching and encouraging the other children (which she isn't shown to do until adulthood). Or at least point out that the sugar cubes will attract ants and other insects. Maggie gives a speech about artistic individualism, ignoring the possibility that creative people don't necessarily have anyone's best interests in mind, not even their own. But the episode does end with some HypocriticalHumor.

** In "Spell it Out", while Lucy's siblings are in the wrong for "walking all over" her because they're clearly seen doing obnoxious things such as not noticing her when she's standing right there, they aren't actually in the wrong when they decide to paint the bathroom pink. All of the other girls wanted to have it pink, and she was the only naysayer in the group, so would have still lost even if they'd acknowledged her.

* This was a frequent occurrence on ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}'' with Wheeler, who was portrayed usually as an arrogant and obnoxious jerk and hence always wrong, despite the fact that he often made sense. In one episode, he was mocked and declared selfish due to his opposition to keeping endangered and injured animals picked up in the group's travels on Hope Island, despite the fact that not taking exotic species out of their natural habitat is a perfectly valid GreenAesop on its own. This is not the only example. He has been "wrong" to espouse two entirely contradictory positions in two separate episodes, and was somehow wrong both times -- even when the episodes came to the ''same'' conclusion.

* WesternAnimation/Invincible2021: Atom Eve's father is absolutely correct that no superhero, no matter how powerful, can survive, let alone be effective, without a support network and people to watch their back. However, this wisdom comes wrapped in a [[StayInTheKitchen GROSSLY misogynistic rant]] about how he would never have let her be a hero if she hadn't been accompanied by her (significantly less powerful) boyfriend, and that she should "stop being a bitch" forgive him for cheating on her and team up with him again because "men have needs"... yeah. It's like that.

** [[Recap/SouthParkS17E10TheHobbit The Hobbit]] has Wendy's points about Photoshop. To be more specific, while her way of proving her point was blunt, she did little in warranting the other girl's harsh treatment of her and she did have point on the whole "believing their bullshit" thing, considering that the other girls started getting mean and nasty after having their confidence boosted by their photoshopped images.en the possibility was brought up.

** [[Recap/SouthParkS17E10TheHobbit The Hobbit]] has Wendy's points about Photoshop. To be more specific, while her way of proving her point was blunt, she did little in warranting the other girl's harsh treatment of her and she did have point on the whole "believing their bullshit" thing, considering that the other girls started getting mean and nasty after having their confidence boosted by their photoshopped images.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** "Krab Borg": [=SpongeBob=]'s fear that Mr. Krabs was replaced by a robot is supposed to be seen as paranoid and irrational, especially since it's partly because of a movie he'd watched the night before (one with a twist ending revealing [[spoiler:the "world-conquering robots" were all in the main characters' heads]], no less). However, in a previous episode, Mr. Krabs ''was'' impersonated by a robot (operated by Plankton), so it's not hard to say [=SpongeBob=]'s suspicions aren't ''completely'' unfounded.
** "Nasty Patty" has Mr. Krabs see a news report about a con artist pretending to be a health inspector to get free food and immediately assume the health inspector currently in the Krusty Krab is the impostor. This is meant to be an example of his love of money getting the better of him by driving him to become paranoid and assume the worst. However, even though the guy apparently turns out to be the genuine article, he acts nothing like a real health inspector, eating the food the restaurant serves instead of checking the cleanliness and making sure the employees are following proper hygiene procedures. With this in mind, it's no wonder Mr. Krabs thought he wasn't a real inspector when the possibility was brought up.