Basic Trope: There's a moral or practical issue, and two people have opposing opinions on it. Both people have a valid argument.
- Straight: Alice and Bob, a couple, have an argument over whether to move to the city or stay in the country. Alice wants to move to the city, arguing that transport will be easier and they'll have more job opportunities. Bob wants to stay in the country, arguing that the air is fresher, healthier, and the scenery is better. When they ask for Claire's opinion, she says that they both raised good points.
- Exaggerated: Alice and Bob have a fight over what colour is better, red or green, and both write long lists detailing the merits to their argument.
- Downplayed:
- Claire notes that they both have good points, but that ultimately either Alice or Bob has more good points and a stronger argument.
- Claire points out that Bob is wrong to expect a hundred dollars for finding Alice's lost keys, but she also notes that Alice was wrong for not showing any gratitude at all.
- Justified: Truth in Television. Many issues and debates have good points for and against.
- Inverted:
- Only one of the two has any good arguments; the other just (ab)uses Insane Troll Logic.
- Both Alice and Bob have absolutely terrible ideas for treating Claire's wounds, to the point that leaving her to bleed out would be less bad than following either one's Insane Troll Logic.
- Subverted: There at first appear to be good reasons for both staying in or leaving the country, but when you pick apart one side's argument, it turns out their argument is flawed or invalid.
- Double Subverted: However, the base assumptions were wrong, making the second one turn out to be just as sensible when more details are obtained.
- Parodied:
- Alice and Bob are arguing over things that are clearly not mutually exclusive, such as whether they should wear a shirt or pants.
- Alice and Bob agree with each other, but Claire still says both sides have a point.
- Zig-Zagged: Living in the city or the country both make a lot of sense. However, the actual arguments Alice and Bob make for each side are very flawed.
- Averted:
- Bob has no good arguments for staying in the country, or Alice has no good arguments for moving to the city.
- Or alternatively, Bob and Alice agree with each other, and there is no argument.
- Enforced: To avert Black-and-White Morality in the work.
- Lampshaded: "Damn, I'm having a really hard time deciding which side is more ethical here."
- Invoked: Alice and Bob think over their respective positions for a long time before they discuss the issue face to face, and it shows in their having clearly found the best arguments for each side.
- Exploited: Alice and Bob present their argument to Claire (a computer which can only handle binary decisions) in the hopes of causing it to blow a logic circuit.
- Defied: Claire goes so far as to use Precognition to differentiate between the close arguments.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: We never hear Alice and Bob's argument, but the people supporting each of them are very reasonable.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice and Bob are such well-matched debaters that nobody can ever determine which of them is "right". As such, neither of their considerations supersedes the other due to its "superiority" or otherwise, and they never manage to do anything.
- Both sides involved ignore the fact that there are more than just two sides to the conflict at hand, with multiple perspectives outside of theirs that aren't given any serious consideration. It leads to resentment at being ignored despite their own views being just as valid, and the two major sides involved end up thoroughly missing useful context that could have drastically changed the outcome of their perpetual argument.
- Reconstructed: Fortunately, in this particular scenario, inaction was just what was needed.
- Played for Laughs: As Alice and Bob keep listing their arguments, Claire in between them keeps saying "he/she has a point" over and over again, getting more anxious each time.
- Played for Drama: Alice and Bob can't argue past each other, so they end up second-guessing and criticizing themselves harshly.
- Plot Foundation: The entire work is a discussion on the concepts of Black-and-White Morality and Gray-and-Grey Morality.
Back to Both Sides Have a Point.
